Back Off, Hot Shot!
by Marly Mischief
Summary: Belle just wants to enjoy traveling through the land and finding adventures, alone that is. Unfortunately for her, she has caught the interest of none other than Ben Finn. Extended Summary inside! Ben/OC
1. Prologue

**Summary:** Belle just wants to enjoy traveling through the land and finding adventures, alone that is. Unfortunately for her, she has caught the interest of none other than Ben Finn. And she's probably the only woman in Albion to try to get him to _stop_ flirting with her. As a matter of fact, she wants him to leave her alone. Forever. Of course, dispite her attempts to get him to go away, Ben isn't going to be leaving her alone until he figures out exactly who she is.

**PROLOGUE**

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><p>Belle leaned against the castle wall next to the front courtyard's entrance with her arms crossed over her chest. A large, happy crowd had gathered in the castle's front courtyard to cheer for the new queen as she received her crown. While she didn't show the same excitement as the crowd, she was happy that Logan was no longer on the thrown, but that wasn't why she had showed up.<p>

She held a lot of respect for Albion's new queen. As a princess, she had left the luxuries of the castle and personally helped the people of Albion and fought her own way to the thrown. But what Belle respected most was the queen's ability to return to the confines of what was now her castle.

Belle knew that it was something she would never be able to do. She shivered at the thought of having to settle down and stay in one place. That just wasn't her. She needed to explore and find new adventures. She wanted to see everything the world had to show her.

She brought herself out of her thoughts when she thought she felt someone looking at her. She looked around; the crowd seemed uninterested in her though. After a moment she was going to shrug it off and return to her thoughts when she looked up to the balcony and saw a soldier staring at her.

He had sun colored hair, and a prominent jaw and chin. He still looked a bit worn out. "_Probably from the battle,_" she thought. She also noticed that he wore a captain's uniform, rather than that of a guardsmen or normal soldier.

Belle cocked an eyebrow and tilted her head, to figure out why he was staring at her. That was when he seemed to realize that she had noticed him staring at her and he straightened up a bit. They stared at each other for what seemed like minutes before booming voice sounded.

"All hail! The Queen of Albion!" the knight who Belle recognized as Sir Walter Beck bellowed. The new queen stepped out as the large and eloquent double doors opened for her. That was when the soldier looked away and towards the queen.

The queen confidently walked up and into the center of attention, allowing Sir Walter to place the crown on the queen's head, making the crowd go absolutely crazy with excitement and cheer. Belle smiled softly and clapped her hands, "Good luck, my queen."

**-_Ben_-**

As the crowd cheered for Albion's new queen, I decided to try and steal another glance at the woman who had been calmly leaning against the castle's walls while everyone else had been too excited to keep quiet. She had black hair, pulled back into a ponytail. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was a bit of fresh air so-to-speak. It was a lot nicer to see compared to all the powdered wigs and boring buns of Bowerstone.

Her skin appeared to be gently kissed by the sun. It wasn't fair like the fair ladies of Bowerstone's higher classes, but it wasn't too tanned or dirty looking like the working woman's skin. I guess she wasn't from either one of those classes, perhaps she didn't even fit into one.

Her clothes weren't too unusual. She wore the female highwaymen's trousers and boots, not elegant, but definitely not repulsive. I also remember that she didn't wear the top shirt and jacket that had been designed to go with it. She actually wore something a bit more unique, a brown corset with a white, very short sleeve shirt underneath it.

She was definitely different, and I have to admit, coupled with the slim, yet curvy figure she had I was interest, even more so when I got to watch her walk away.

Not that I was looking at… Well, okay. Maybe I was. But I still wanted to know who exactly she was. Unfortunately, I was not able to find out that day. The queen went back into the castle, followed by Walter, who forced me back into the castle as well.

I went looking for her the next day, after Logan's trial. My mild anger at the queen for letting Logan live for some reason still did not make my curiosity about this strange and attractive woman die.

I had originally asked Walter, and he said that he didn't seem to recall anyone living in Bowerstone with that description. I was going to ask the queen too, but, well, Walter told me to shut up. He also told me to just forget about the woman and think about what was ahead of us, but you can probably tell how much that worked.

I ended up looking casually for a few days, not really searching, but still asking about when the opportunity came to me. The only things I was able to find out about this woman was that she hadn't stayed in the tavern in the town square and that only one person seemed to recall a woman with that description. Unfortunately that person was the city guard who had seen her come into the city… And of course, leave only a couple hours later…

Defeated, I decided to do as Wally said and to forget about the woman. I had to forces on training soldiers and preparing for the threat of the 'Darkness'. Besides, it wasn't like I was going to ever see the woman again anytime soon. As a matter of fact, she would probably never even come across my path again…

…Or so I thought.

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><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>

Alright! I hope you enjoyed this! I will hopefully get the next chapter up soon. As you can probably tell, this isn't going to be a Ben/Princess story. I decided to go with something a little different.

Anyway, I want **YOU** the readers to name our queen! Leave a name for her in the review along with what you think of our little tale.


	2. Don't Stare, She'll Punch You

**-_Belle-_**

Belle yawned as she lay back on to the cushy grass of Mistpeak Valley. The lake had been the first place she had wanted to stop at when she finally was able to leave the Dweller Camp at the top of the valley. She had been there when 'The Darkness' had invaded Albion two weeks ago, and had decided to stay when it had been defeated to help the Dwellers clean and fix up their camp.

Surprisingly no one had died during The Darkness' assault on Albion, but that was all due to the Queen's preparations. The people were happier with her now than ever, not only had she kept all her promises and made the kingdom's people happy, she had also taken money out of her own pocket and used it to build the army that would save the kingdom. The Queen's actions did not only make Belle appreciate and respect her more, but it also made Belle feel bad for her.

Belle had seen the queen in Millfields just before invasion of 'The Darkness'. The Queen had looked completely exhausted. She knew that the Queen had been building an army for some threat against Albion at the time, but her Majesty had looked as if she had been collecting all the money on her own.

"_Poor Queen, hopefully she will now be able to relax and enjoy her remaining years as Albion's Queen,"_ she thought. After thinking thoroughly about what had happened recently to Albion and its kingdom, she listened quietly to the wind as it gently rustled the leaves on the trees and swirled the water on the lake. The natural sounds of Mistpeak Valley gently lulled her to sleep.

**-_Ben_-**

_He stared at the woman before him. She looked so familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint where he had seen her. Her midnight black hair fell gently about her shoulders and she stared at him through half-lidded, hazel eyes._

_"Hello Ben, Long time, no see," she purred._

_"What?" he said, unsure at whether he was more surprised at her forwardness or at the fact that she knew his name._

_"Oh Ben," she chuckled as she ran her soft hands up his chest, "Don't you remember me? You saw me at the Queen's coronation; you couldn't keep your eyes off me."_

Ben jolted awake, springing up in the bed he slept in. He looked over to the window of his rented room and saw the sun's rays pouring through the window. After a moment he realized it was after noon and with a sigh laid back down on the bed.

"What the hell," he murmured.

"_…the Queen's Coronation_," the woman's voice echoed in his head.

"_The Queen's Coronation? That was well over a year ago. I remember it was sunny, and very loud. Everybody was happy that Logan got his royal arse kicked off the throne. They were cheering loudly. Well, except for that one woman. She didn't seem- The Woman!_" he realized, and the memory of her looking at him from the back of that crowd came to the front of his mind. "_That's right; she had been leaning against the castle wall in the back of the front courtyard. She sure was nice to look at, but why would I have a dream about her? I never got the chance to talk to her,"_ He thought as he stared at the ceiling.

After a few minutes of trying to figure it out, he sighed as he realized it was not something he had an answer to and got up to get dressed for another day of adventuring. He had discarded his captain's uniform after he had left the castle. He now sported a simple pair of trousers, leather boots, and the military jacket the Queen had given to him as a gift. After returning the key to the tavern owner and gathering some provisions, he left Brightwall and began making his way to Mourningwood.

He had been walking for about half an hour when he noticed someone lying in a small clearing next to the lake. Thinking that they might be hurt, he started running over to them, "_Good thing I was on my way to Mourningwood!"_

"Hey! Are you alright?" he asked as he knelt down next to what he could now tell was a woman. He brushed some of her hair out of her face and stared in amazement. He couldn't believe that lying here in the grass in Mistpeak Valley was the girl he had dreamed about just earlier that day.

**-_Belle_-**

She realized she had fallen asleep as she felt what she thought was the wind gently brushing her hair across her face. She stirred and opened her eyes lazily. She was very surprised to find a man kneeling next to her, staring at her as she slept. She shrieked and instinctively swung her fist, punching him on the side of his face. The man howled in pain and she jumped up, drawing her sword and pointing it at him.

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded.

"Ow! What the hell was that for!" the man exclaimed.

"What the hell do you think you pervert! You were staring at me as I slept!" she exclaimed.

"What? Ugh, I did not! I was afraid you were hurt!" he explained.

Belle lowered her sword slightly and looked at him suspiciously, she finally noticed his features. Blond hair, blue eyes, strong jaw and chin; it was the captain she'd seen at the Queen's Coronation. She put her sword away and sighed. She began walking away from him and said with a small wave of her hand, "Well, see ya."

"Wait, what? You punched me!" the captain exclaimed.

"Yeah, so?" she responded as she turned to look at him while placing a hand on her hip.

"Not even an apology?" he asked in disbelief.

"An apology? What about an apology from you! You scared me half to death, and _you_ want an apology?" She countered. She felt her chest tighten as she became angrier. Never before had she intentionally hit someone first, but it was looking like that might change.

"Maybe you shouldn't go napping about in areas that have been known to have mercenaries! I thought you were hurt!" he explained, lightly rubbing his cheek one more time.

"Well, I'm not. But I'll keep in mind to cry like a damsel in distress when I do get hurt so that some idiot like you can come swooping in to save me," she said sarcastically.

"I'd still like an apology," he argued.

"Well, I'm sorry," she sneered, "Happy now?"

Then the man smiled humorously, "No, I think I deserve a kiss. That's usually what 'damsels in distress' give there heroes for saving them."

"A what? You want a kiss! What did you save me from? A peaceful day? Cause if that's the case then I'd rather give you another punch to the face!" she exclaimed.

"That temper is certainly unbecoming of you," the man said with a wag of his finger.

"Who gave you permission to- Hey!" she was interrupted as the man pinned her between his body and a tree and placed a hand over her mouth.

"Sshh…"

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

Sorry this is a bit late, I have been having technological issues with just about everything. I also apologize for any typos. I was working on another laptop and was about to save when the laptop restarted. I had to go and re-type everything and now I'm kinda tired. Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next Chapter Belle ends up stuck with Ben for a while, lol. And of course she's not gonna like it.

Also, I still need a name for the Queen for later Chapters. Another side note, this might eventually become an M-rated FanFiction pending on whether I decided to go with some ideas I have for later chapters or not.

Thanks for reading!


	3. Traveling Companions

**Author's Note: Story rating has been changed to 'M' for a strong amount of violence in the this chapter. If you don't like violence, well, then you've been warned. Otherwise, enjoy!**

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><p>-<em>Ben<em>-

"Sshh…" he hushed and slowly reached for his rifle. He'd spotted the mercenaries after he'd joked about her temper and had pushed the woman against a tree for cover and held his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. There was a large group of them, at least ten.

"I heard the yellin' comin' from this direction!" one yelled to his fellow mercenaries.

"That sounded like a lass too! Maybe we can have a bit of fun with her before we kill her," another shouted.

Ben then saw movement out of the corner of his eye and saw that the woman's hand had gone to her rifle; she was no longer focused on him, but focused on being ready for the mercenaries. He removed his hand from over her mouth and gripped his rifle. He waited until her own rifle was in her hands to bring his rifle's barrel up to aim. He brought the closest mercenary into his rifle's sights and fired.

-_Belle_-

When she heard the first shot fire from the man's rifle, she spun her rifle's barrel around to the other side of the tree and began firing upon the first mercenary to come into her line of fire. She fired a second bullet into the thug when the first didn't succeed in bringing him down. The mercenary gasped as it struck him in the chest and he went down for good.

She saw another mercenary peering at her from around a tree and pointed her rifle at him. As soon as his head came back around the trunk of the tree to aim at her she fired. Blood splattered against the trunk of the tree as the bullet penetrated the man's skull and he fell.

"Nice one!" the captain next to her shouted over the loud firing of rifles as he reloaded his own. Belle gave a slight nod in acknowledgment and glanced to her left. She saw a mercenary with his sword drawn coming around to flank them.

"Cover me!" she said hastily as she charged the man, switching out her rifle for her sword. She swung downward at the mercenary and he brought his sword up to block her preemptive strike against him. The mercenary took a step back and then thrust his sword forward at her stomach. Belle side-stepped out of the way and stabbed him through the back.

She quickly recovered her sword from the now dead mercenary's back and brought it up to block another's sword as he tried to slash the blade at her. She pushed back at him, making him lose his footing and stumble backward. She slashed her sword across his stomach, then thrust her blade though his abdomen.

Before she could withdraw her sword of the dead man's body, she was pushed and she gasped in surprise. She spun around to see who had pushed her and saw blue-eyes close as the captain cringe, blood oozing from his right bicep.

Belle looked over to where she had seen the mercenaries shooting from earlier and was slightly surprised to see that only one was left. She changed her grip on her sword and threw it at the man. Her sword found its way into the mercenary's chest and he gasped before falling backward against a tree.

Belle looked over to the blond haired man and saw him holding his arm, but he didn't seem to be in too much pain anymore. "Best we get out of here before their friends show up," she advised.

"Agreed," he said. She felt his eyes on her as she ran over to the speared mercenary and withdrew her sword from his chest. Without looking to see if the man who had helped her was following, she began running away from the bloody scene.

-_Ben_-

They had been running until they reached the abandoned monorail station. He panted lightly as he followed the woman down the steps to the main platform. The woman looked back at him and sighed, "I supposed I'm stuck with you for the night."

"Looks like it!" he said with a cheeky grin. He watched her as she sat down on the wood floor and waved him over. Confused, he walked over to see what she wanted and yelped when she yanked him down next to her. She turned to face him and gave a gentle yank on the military jacket.

"Coat. Off." She demanded.

"What kind of man do you think I am!" he exclaimed, pretending to be offended, "Just because I'm handsome and charming doesn't mean I'll bed with just anyone! I'm sorry but you are just going to have to learn to resist me."  
>"In your dreams hot-shot," she said as she glared at him, "I just wanted to help you with your injury, but if you really want another punch to the face then by all means, keep it up and you shall receive."<p>

"Seesh, you're so hard to amuse," he said as he began shrugging off the coat after setting aside his rifle and sword. He tossed the coat aside and looked back over to watch as she rolled up the sleeve of his shirt. She reached into her pack and pulled out a piece of cloth, a bandage, and some ointment. She poured a bit of water onto the cloth and began wiping off the dried blood. "So what's your name?" he asked suddenly and he noticed that she had been caught off guard by his question.

"Huh?" she looked up to him, slightly confused.

"Your name, you have one don't you?" he asked, grinning.

"Oh, my name is Belle, Belle Lockwood," she responded calmly, obviously still focused on cleaning his injury.

"Well I'm-" he started.

"Captain Benjamin Finn, of Albion's Royal Army, I know. You helped the queen overthrow Logan. I saw you at her Majesty's coronation," she interrupted.

"Well, you seem to have done some research on me I see. Impressed by my devilishly handsome looks?" He grinned and leaned down toward her face.

She looked up to him, not amused at all, "Or you had some nut jobs fawning over you in Bowerstone and were standing in front of me at the Queen's coronation."

"Oh," he grimaced. He believed he knew who she was talking about. As much as he liked the occasionally attention of a lady, there were a couple of girls in Bowerstone that were completely obsessed with him. One had even asked if he would marry her, something he politely declined then had made a hasty retreat from.

Ben sighed and looked back down to his arm to see her finishing up with the bandage. She then moved to sit across from him. "So why would the Queen have her captain all the way out here?" she asked.

"Actually, I'm no longer a part of the Royal Albion Army anymore," he answered as he rolled his sleeve back down his arm.

"Ah, so now you're just 'Benjamin Finn, the-' what?" she asked. She leaned back and let her arms support her upper body while she stretched her legs out. Ben could barely see a slight curiosity in her eyes.

"_Hazel, just like in my dream_," he thought.

"The adventurer and Explorer!" he said happily, "and I suppose that is what you do as well?"

Ben smiled slightly as Belle chuckled, "yeah, I wander here and there, looking for some adventure myself."

"Well then, how about you and me travel around together for a bit?" he suggested.

"Excuse me?" she asked, surprised.

"You owe me, so let's travel together for a bit," he explained.

"For what!" she exclaimed.

"You would have been shot and killed if it wasn't for me," he pointed out.

"Nobody asked you to save me," she countered.

"So you'd rather be dead?" he asked, smirking.

"Well," she bit her bottom lip slightly and Ben smiled, knowing that he had won.

"Then it's settled, you're stuck with me as a traveling companion for a while," he said triumphantly.

"I can't believe this," he heard her mumble as her hand came over her face.

"Oh, come on! It'll be fun!" he said.

"Oh, I'm sure it will be," she said, and he could hear the sarcasm dripping off her tongue, "Well, I'm going to get some sleep and save myself from anymore of your jokes." Ben watched her turn her back to him and lay down on the cold floor, using her arm as a pillow.

After a few moments Ben looked back over to her to see her breathing had evened out as she had fallen asleep and chuckled, "_she sure is something. Now to figure out what that something is._" He folded up his coat and used it as a pillow and laid his head down on it, surrendering to sleep.

-_Belle_-

Belle woke up as she heard someone move about. She looked back to find Ben awake, and going through his pack. She saw him look up to her and smile.

"Morning!" he said, way too cheerfully in her opinion.

"Ugh, morning," she replied groggily and looked away from him, curling back up for warmth.

"You're not a morning person are you?" she heard him ask.

"No," she said and curled up a bit more as the cold air of the cave nipped at her skin, giving her goose bumps.

"Come on now, get up! We have to try and make as much distance through this cave as we can today!" he said, "Here, have a muffin." Belle looked up at him with one eye and saw him holding a muffin over her head. She reached up and grabbed the muffin from him. She set it down next to her as she closed her eyes again.

"Oh, come on! Get up!" he said. She ignored him and then after a moment heard his footsteps as he made his way back over to her. She yelped in surprise as he began pulling her up off the floor and to her feet.

"What the hell are you doing?" she growled, struggling to get out of his grasp.

"Getting you up!" he said as he continued to pull her up.

"Fine! I'm up!" she said as she shoved him away and brushed off some dirt from her thick leather corset. She picked up the muffin he'd given her earlier and took a bite out of it. "So, why are we in such a hurry?" she asked as she chewed.

"I want to get to Mourningwood as quickly as possible," he said as he threw his coat on.

"So you want to rush through bats and hobbes to fight hollowmen? You really are crazy," she said as she continued to eat her muffin.

"No, just a strong, brave, and handsome explorer ready for anything!" he said with a grin and a wink at her.

Belle rubbed her hands as she took her last bite of her breakfast, ignoring his behavior. "Well alright hot-shot, let's get going," she said and picked her weapons up off the floor where she had set them down the night before. She followed him down to the only working elevator and got in. The doors closed in front of her as he pulled the lever to go down and the two began making their way through the large cave.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Well, here is the second chapter! It is about double the lenght of the last chapter. (I measure chapters by word count rather than actual page length.) I will try and make the next chapter even longer by about 500-1000 words.

Thanks for reading! And let me know how I'm doing!


	4. Them Again?

-_Belle_-

Belle panted softly, they had just finished fighting off yet another group of hobbes. She looked to Ben, who was walking in front of her. He looked just as tired as she felt, but no matter how many times she asked for a quick break, he refused ad kept walking. Belle's legs felt shaky under her weight from fighting hobbes and trudging through the cave non-stop.

"Ben, can we _please_ rest for a bit," she pleaded again.

"I said I want to get to the end of this cave before we stop," he said as he continued forward, not even looking back to talk to her. Belle closed her eyes tightly and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She was tired and now aggravated and was almost willing to whack Ben upside the head with the butt of her rifle.

"Well fine! You keep marching on, and I'm going to sit down right here and rest!" she exclaimed and sat down against the cave wall that was next to her, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"What," he said in disbelief as he turned around to look at her.

"Look, I'm not an ex-soldier like you, I didn't train to march and fight continuously for hours. I have walked a full day before, but I took a break at lunch and dinner, then it was only an hour and half from the next town and I didn't do any fighting," she explained, "besides, it's probably night time by now. If you watch the bats they are heading towards the exits, probably to go eat while the sun is down. We haven't even eaten since this morning." She watched him as he sighed and leaned back against the rocky cave wall next to her.

"Fine, we'll take a short break," he said, looking down at his feet.

"Thank you," she sighed in relief. She brought her hand up to brush her bangs out of her face. She glanced back up to Ben, who was still staring at the ground. She sighed and stared at the wall across from her. "So, what's the big rush anyway? There's just hollowmen in Mourningwood and they are just as bad, if not worse, than hobbes," she asked.

"I'll tell you when we get there," he said distantly, as if he didn't even realize he'd been asked a question or that he had even answered. She huffed and laid her cheek on top of her knees, still hugging her legs to her chest.

-_Ben_-

After a few minutes of silence he sighed and pushed himself off the wall, "Come on, we'll go a bit further then we'll stop for the night." He took a few steps forward but realized something was amiss when he heard nothing from Belle but silence.

"Belle?" he called as he turned to looked at her. She was curled up, hugging her knees, sleeping soundly. He smiled softly and shook his head, "guess you were really tired. He scratch the back of his head and looked around, the small cavern they had stopped in had a small wooden box in it. He went to the box and as quietly as he could broke it down and made a fire out of the wood.

"Well, that'll work to get a fire started," he said as he began making a fire in the center of the small space.

-_Belle_-

Belle yawned and stretched her arms upward as she woke up. She hadn't realized that she had been asleep, and was a bit surprised Ben hadn't woken her up. She opened her eyes and looked around. There was a small fire in the center of the room that was just about dead and Ben was no where to be seen.

"Ben?" she called out as she stood up. She took a few steps towards the fire and knelt down next to it to examine it, "probably been about an hour or so since it was started." She thought in silence for a few moments, trying to add up what was going on.

"He wouldn't have," she said, the tone of her voice sounding a bit angrier as she spoke. She looked around again, looking for his pack and growled when she couldn't find it, "That jerk! He pesters the hell outta me and says he's gonna travel with me then runs off when I fall asleep! Well at least I don't have to deal with him anymore!"

She spun around and began walked back towards the old monorail entrance in Mistpeak. "I'll just go back to Brightwall so I don't have to run into him on my way to Bowerstone!" she said harshly and left the fire to die on its own.

-_Ben_-

Ben came back to the small cavern carrying some more wood he'd take from boxes he had broken down further into the cave. It was dark and the first had died, "dammit," he muttered as he rushed to the few remaining red embers. He placed some wood on top of the embers and began working on getting the fire going again.

He sighed in relief as the fire started up again and looked up to check on Belle. He stood up quickly when he didn't find her where she had been sleeping before he had gone to get firewood. "Belle?" he called out into the darkness that the light from the fire couldn't reach.

He waited, listening for a response, but the only sound he could hear was water somewhere in the cave, dripping off stalactites. He cursed and looked around. "_She probably back-tracked to avoid running into me. I don't see why she doesn't like me,_" He thought as he began briskly walking back towards the way they had come only a couple hours earlier.

He had gone on for a few hours and by the time he had made almost all the way back through the cave he felt as if his energy had been completely drained. He could barely pick up his feet off the ground to take another step. "For someone who is tired she can walk quite a while," he mumbled, barely able to form the words.

He walked back over the small wooden bridge, spotting the now rusting monorail car. He sighed, and was ready to collapse when something caught his eye as he made contact with the hard ground again. He looked up and saw Belle, but he wasn't angry with her anymore.

She was lying on her stomach on the ground; he could barely make out a small pool of liquid under her head. "Belle!" he exclaimed as he felt adrenaline kick in and make him feel energized again. He ran over and slid to a stop on his knee as he came up to her side.

Just as he was about to check her head for injuries he felt a sudden pain ignite in his head, and he felt his head begin throbbing. His hand went to the back of his head and he cringed. Before he could look back to see what had hit him he fell over Belle and was unconscious before he even felt his head hit the ground.

-_Belle_-

Belle moaned groggily from the pain in her head and to make things even better, her right cheek where she had been cut felt sore. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around the room slowly, trying to focus. She had heard someone saying something, but she didn't know who it was or what they were saying.

"Belle!" Someone whispered loudly. She looked over to the source, trying to focus her eyes on who had spoken her name.

"Ben?" she asked, squinting into the darkly light room. She barely saw barely made out his figure, but knew it was him when she noticed his blond hair. "What happened?" she asked.

"I think we are in a mercenary camp, apparently the friends of those mercenaries we took out at the bottom of Mistpeak Valley weren't very please with us for killing them," He said, she could see that he was looking around for something, for what she didn't know.

"I remember running into them when I was trying to get out of the cave and back to Brightwall, I was doing pretty good until I got knocked on the head with something," Belle explained, then she remembered that she had been angry at him for leaving her behind. "I'm glad they caught up to you; it's what you get for leaving me in a damn cave," she growled.

"What?" he seemed surprise, "What are you talking about, I-" He was interrupted as the door to the small cabin they appeared to be in swung open. Belle quickly looked to the mercenary that entered and glared at him.

"Hey, you're both awake. That's good, maybe the boss'll stop complainin' ta me about knockin' ya'll on the head so hard," he said and took a few steps towards Belle. She felt the hair on her neck stand up as she became more aggravated.

"What?" she snapped, she felt her shoulders tighten up as and her anger coil up in her chest like a poisonous viper as she watched him. Without giving her a response he reached down to grab her. As soon as she felt his hand on her upper arm she quickly pulled her legs to her chest and lashed her feet outward, striking the mercenary in the chest.

"Whoa," he said as he stumbled backward. He let out a chuckled, "Feisty, eh? I'm sure the boss'll be _really_ satisfied with ya." He said as he made his way back toward her, making sure to use more caution as he approached her.

"WHAT!" she shouted, and prepared to kick her legs outward again.

"HEY! LEAVE HER ALONE!" Ben shouted and she heard him struggle against the rope that bound his wrists together.

Belle watched as the mercenary glared at Ben and brought his fist up above Ben's head. "Shut it!" he exclaimed and brought his fist down on top of Ben's head.

"Ben!" Belle shrieked and struggled against her own ropes. She watched fearfully as his head lulled downward to his chest, and he became unresponsive. She looked back to the mercenary as he chuckled and she felt her chest tighten in both anger and fear.

She kicked the man in the chest again as reached for her again. He was ready this time, and grabbed her ankles. After a bit of a struggle he managed to pull her up to her feet, and began trying to force her to walk and dragging her as she pulled back and resisted.

"Well now you feisty lil' lass. Let's get ya to the boss," he said with a smirk.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

I'm sorry this is a bit late, I am trying to update it every weekend. I am working on losing weight so I have been exercising more and looking into Gyms, this was also supposed to be longer than this, but I decided to cut the chapter in half so that I could get this up before I went into work today. I'm also sorry for any typos or grammar errors. If you point them out to me I promise to take the time to fix them for future readers.

Thank You for reading!


	5. Escaping a Nightmare

**Warning! This chapter contains Attempted Rape & Violence!**

* * *

><p>-<em><strong>Belle<strong>_-

Belle struggled against the mercenary's grip, doing everything she can to get away from him. But no matter how much she resisted, he just gave her arm a strong yank and send her stumbling forward. She glared at him and every mercenary in her line of sight. Some wearing grinning from ear to ear, others were giving her winks and whistling.

"Aye now, here we are," the mercenary dragging her said as he approached a small cabin, "Get in." He shoved her through the door and she fell backward on a bed, dust and dirt filled the air and she snorted as it filled her nose. "Wait 'ere like a good lil' lass and I'll go let the boss know you're ready," he said with a smirk and left.

Belle quickly looked around the small cabin, looking for anything to help her out of the situation. She saw a dusty bottle on the floor and immediately reached for it. She brought it up about the bed post and was about to break it when the door swung open. She gasped and dropped the bottle on the floor, letting it roll away.

There stood a large mercenary sporting a mohawk, his dark eyes looking her over. Belle growled, not only slightly aggravated at him, but also scared of him. The mercenary grinned, "Well, well, you killed my guys, that wasn't a very smart thing ta do. I should kill ya right here. But a gorgeous thing like you shouldn't be wasted. While I'm not sure about you, but _I'll_ enjoy this."

Belle's glare quickly changed from a glare to an expression of fear and worry. She wanted to escape, or for someone to save her. She tried to back away as he quickly made his way to her. When he reached for her she tried to hit him, but found it difficult with her hands tied still.

The mercenary leader grabbed her tied wrist and began to pull her to him. She screamed at him and fell to the floor on her butt, kicking out at him with her feet. She managed to get him in a particularly sensitive part and the man coughed and fell over, cupping his groan and moaning in pain.

She quickly took the chance to scoot away from him and into a corner, her breath heavy from fear and adrenaline. She glanced to her left and saw the bottle from earlier. She quickly grabbed it and yelped when a large hand grabbed her wrists before she could pull the bottle back to the corner. She looked up and met the mercenary's angry glare.

"Eh, ya stupid bitch. That wasn't very nice," he growled at her and she began trying to get out of his grasp. Tears began welling up in her eyes the longer he held her and she began trying to kick him away. The man grabbed on of her legs and tossed her onto the bed.

"No!" she yelled at him in protest.

"Yes lass, yes," he said as he grinned wickedly at her and chuckled. He then swiftly made his way over to her.

-_**Ben**_-

Ben moaned as his head throbbed from the pain of getting hit again. As soon as he realized he was once again conscious he quickly looked around the room, looking for Belle.

"Lookin' fer the lass? She's with the boss," someone spoke up, and Ben's head snapped in the man's direction. He quickly recognized him as the man who had hit him on the head before taking Belle away.

Ben let out an aggravated growl and looked around the room again. He spotted his rifle and sword in the corner, along with Belle's weapons. He smirked slightly and looked back to the mercenary.

"Hey, would you mind doing something for me? I have an itch on my nose, and seeing as you tied my hands behind my back, rather than in front of me like my friend's, I can't scratch it myself," he said, catching the mercenary off guard.

"Uh, I guess, I see no harm in it," he said and leaned forward to scratch Ben's nose. Ben's snapped his mouth open quickly and chomped down on the mercenary's hand, getting a yelp out of the man. He quickly kicked him and sent him stumbling backward to the ground.

Ben scrambled to his feet and rushed over to his weapons. He turned his back to his sword and quickly cut the rope around his wrists with his sword. Then he reached back and grabbed it by the handle. He charged the mercenary as he reached for his rifle. Ben's sword pierced the mercenary's throat, cutting through his windpipe and the mercenary gurgled as he slumped to the floor.

After having dealt with the mercenary, Ben ran back over to his rifle and Belle's weapons. He placed his sword on his back as he grabbed his rifle and checked the chamber. "Still loaded, good." he said as he grabbed Belle's weapons and placed them next to the door.

He then crouched down next to the door and used the wall for cover. He quickly scanned the area and saw the mercenaries making their way to the cabin. "This is gonna be one hell of a night."

-_**Belle**_-

Belle panted, she had been struggling to fight the leader off for quite sometime now, and she could feel herself getting tired and weak. Blood trickled down her chin from her busted lip and her left eye was slightly swollen from a punch to the eye she had taken.

"They weren't kiddin' when they said you were feisty, but I'm done fightin' with ya," the mercenary leader said as he wiped sweat from his brow. Then made his way over to her again and she lashed out at him again with the last bit of energy she had, but it wasn't enough.

The large man grabbed her wrist then sat on her legs, pinning her to the bed.

"No!" she screamed out. She struggled under his weight, but it was useless.

The man laughed and looked down at her, "Told ya I'd have my way with you!" He made his way to her shirt and she squirmed again, then they both froze when they heard gun shots ring out. The man growled and quickly got up, "Stay here and be a good little thing 'til I get back." He quickly left, slamming the door shut and locking it behind him.

Belle stared at the door for a few moments, then rolled to the edge of the bed and sat up. She looked around for the bottle again, she saw it and made her way over to it, when she tripped over a box and fell. Looking back at the box that had tripped her, she saw a small knife that had fallen out of it, and decided that would be better than the bottle.

She grabbed the knife and began cutting away at the rope around her wrist. It took a few moments longer than she had liked, but she eventually cut herself free. Keeping the knife with her, she made her way toward the door then paused when she noticed that something was different.

She waited a few seconds, listening for gunshots; but there were none. She then heard a thump against the door and readied herself with the knife. She watched as the door knob jiggled around a bit, and then heard the click of the door being unlocked.

The door opened and Belle's body tensed up, ready for another fight. After a few moments of staring at the bloody figure before her, she recognized the blue eyes staring at her as he panted; staring back at her.

"Ben," she almost squeaked with renewed fear and worry as she threw the knife aside and made her way to him. She kneeled down on both knees next to him and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Are you alright?" she asked, holding back tears that wanted to surface due to the horrifying night.

Ben grinned at her, "Now you're worried about me? Guess that means you don't hate me."

Belle could help but return a small smile, "Come on hot-shot. Let's get out of here." She helped him up to his feet and they quickly made their escape into the night.

**~ Two Days Later ~**

-_**Belle**_-

The snow fell gently to the ground and Belle wrapped herself tighter in the Coat as the wind picked up. She was sitting on the steps that lead to the Caravan where the Dwellers had treated Ben. She wrapped her arms around her waist and tried to warm up from the cold.

She hadn't seen Ben since they had arrived at the Dweller Camp from the Mercenary Camp hidden further up in the mountains, and now she was kind of scared to face him. He had been shot several times and had a few other extensive injuries that had needed immediate attention. As soon as they had managed to get down to the Dweller Camp he had been whisked away to a Caravan for treatment.

Sabine, the Dweller Elder, had let Belle stay in an empty caravan at the top of the hill next to a hot spring. Belle didn't know Sabine as well as she knew some of the other Dweller's due to his absence during the invasion of 'The Darkness', but she knew he was a good man when he had told her she was welcomed anytime after her first long visit.

Sighing, she closed her eyes and began her debate on visiting Ben in the medicine man's caravan for the fiftieth time that day. She felt bad for leading them both back to the waiting ambush of the mercenaries, and even more so for the injuries he had received form trying to rescue her.

"You know, I'm sure Ben would like a visitor as he recovers," a voice sounded and Belle looked up to see Sabine walking up to her.

"Hey Sabine," she said, not sure of what else to say.

"What's with this moping about all day and night?" He asked as he stopped next to her.

Belle sighed, "Well, I don't know really. Well, I know, but I don't know what to do about it. I feel bad for getting Ben hurt."

"Ah, worried about the boy. Well, he's fine. He's tougher than he looks. I should know, I fought along side him when we revolted against Logan and again when The Darkness came," he said, then looked at her, "Really girl, go visit the boy, he's a lot better than ya think."

Belle chuckled, "I'm sure he is."

"Come on Boulder, best we get some lunch now," Sabine said as he walked back down the hill, Boulder who she somehow hadn't noticed, following close behind.

She sighed and looked down the cliff side. She spotted the medicine man's caravan inside the small ring of caravan's where the elders stayed and stood up. "I guess I _should_ go visit," she said as she began making her way down the hill.

When she got to the medicine man's caravan she hesitated outside. She didn't even know why she was hesitating, so after a moment she took a deep breath and made her way to the door of the caravan.

She knocked quickly on the wooden door frame, not wanting to hesitate again. Instead of the medicine man coming to the small tarp that acted as the door, she heard a groggy voice tell her to come in. She lifted the tarp out of the way and stepped in, letting the tarp fall behind her.

"Belle?" Ben asked in disbelief and tried to sit up, wincing in pain as he did so.

"Take it easy there hot-shot. You got pretty messed up from those mercenaries," she said as she walked to the bedroll and sat next to him.

"Wow, I thought you would have taken the chance to run," Ben admitted as he laid on the bedroll, staring up at nothing.

"Well, I decided it wouldn't be fair to run from an injured man, so I decided to take pity and wait till you were at least able to run," she joked, receiving a chuckle from Ben. The two sat in silence for what seemed like a long time to Belle; neither one of them looked at each other.

"How's your cheek?" Ben suddenly asked, and Belle finally looked at him. She felt her heart sink in her chest as she noticed how tired he looked, and perhaps there was even a bit of worry in his eyes that made her feel that way, but she wasn't quite sure.

"Its fine," she said as she looked away and gently brushed her fingers over the large red scab that had formed over the cut. She winced slightly as the wound throbbed slightly at her touch, still sore.

She looked back at Ben when she heard him chuckle, "sure, but it still hurts doesn't it. You winced when you touched it, speaking of which you probably shouldn't do that."

Belle laughed softly, "Yeah, I probably shouldn't." After a few moments of silence she stood up and looked down to him, "Well, get some rest hot-shot, I don't wanna be waiting too long to try and run away again."

Ben chuckled, "Sure thing, girlie." Belle stopped and looked back at him, cocking an eyebrow at the nickname, making Ben let out another amused chuckle. She sighed and shook her head, leaving the caravan and heading back to her own borrowed one.

**~ Two Weeks after arriving at the Dweller Camp ~**

-_**Ben**_-

"Thanks again!" Ben shouted as he waved one last time to Sabine and Boulder, who had seen him and Belle off when they were ready to leave.

The old man laughed and shouted back to him, "Don't get yourself hurt again, boy!"

Ben looked forward towards Belle, who had gotten ahead of him and quickly caught up to her. "So, where are we going then? Straight back to where we were, trying to get through the old monorail caves?"

Belle looked over to him, cocking an eyebrow, something he noticed she did a lot towards him. "Are you insane? You're still recovering from your injuries," she said.

"So?" he smirked, "Afraid I can't handle a long trip?"

Belle chuckled, "Brightwall. It's in between, and it'll give you time to rest while your wounds heal."

"Alright then, Brightwall it is!" Ben said cheerfully and they continued down the small dirt road.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Well here it is, the fourth Chapter. And I got it up with only a minute to spare! That's actually literal in this case. Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, be ready for the next chapter! I still have to write out the outline for it, but there is possible drunkenness, and drunkenness is almost always funny.

Thanks for reading!


	6. Another Drink Won't Hurt

_**-Belle-**_

Belle uttered a growl as Ben began pestering her again, "Ben, stop it. I'm not going to have a drink with you when we get to the tavern in Brightwall."

"Oh, come on. It'll be fun! Get to Brightwall, get to the tavern and have a few pints of ale to relax with," Ben tried to persuade her.

"Tell ya what, we are halfway to Brightwall, if we don't run into any wolves or bandits the rest of the trip, I'll have _a_ drink with you. If we do run into any trouble on our way there you have to sleep somewhere on the other side of town," Belle offered, knowing full well how likely it was that they would run into something

"Deal!" Ben said cheerfully, "It will probably be best that we drink Ale. Beer is fine, but, eh, Ale is just so much better."

Belle sighed as Ben rambled on. "_He's such an idiot…"_

_**-Ben-**_

Ben grinned as Belle stood next to him on the bridge staring in disbelief at the large gate of Brightwall. Ben smirked, "So, am I pushing my luck by asking you to buy the first round?"

Belle continued to stare at the gate of Brightwall in disbelief. "How was there not even a single wolf?" she questioned and Ben continued to smirk, but a moment later he yelped in pain as he felt something fall on top of his head. He looked up and found that it had been the butt of Belle's rifle that had struck him.

"Oh fine, I guess I'll take care of the first round then," he said and continued into Brightwall. He heard Belle sighed, then her footsteps as she followed him. "Now, to the tavern for drinks!" he exclaimed cheerfully as they made their way to Brightwall's 'Ye Quill & Quandry'.

Ben ordered their first round of drinks as Belle sat across from him. He looked back at her and gave a cheeky grin. "Relax! You act like drinking is such a bad thing," he said as he watched her cross her arms over her chest and sat with one leg over the other.

"Whatever, just one drink and that's it," Belle said and looked at him, not amused.

"What's your problem with having a few drinks, getting a little drunk?" he said, exasperated.

"Well, wouldn't you like to know," Belle said and gave a small nod as the young woman working set their drinks down on the table.

"Yes, I would," Ben huffed, and then took a swig of his drink.

"Well, too bad, one drink, that's it," Belle replied, and took a sip of her drink.

Ben glared at her for a moment, then sighed and began drinking.

_**-Belle-**_

Belle took the last sip of her Ale and set the mug down on the table, pushing it away from her.

"Finally done wit that one? 'bout time!" Ben slurred slightly, he'd pushed his second now empty mug away.

"I don't like getting tipsy or drunk, nothing good comes of it," Belle said before taking a bite of the potatoes from the plate of food she had ordered for herself.

"There's nothin' wrong with getting tipsy, or drunk for that matter. Miss? Another round for us please!" Ben called to the waitress.

"I told you that I was only going to have one drink!" Belle growled and kicked Ben's leg under the table.

"Ow! Well, you're eating food so it'll keep you from getting tipsy or drunk or whatever," Ben said as he reached under the table to rub his shin.

Belle sighed, "Fine, but just one more! That's it, no more than that." Then the waitress set their drinks down and they continued to eat, drink, and bicker.

_**-Ben-**_

Ben was surprised at the giggling woman across the table from him. It had been a couple of hours since they had gotten to the tavern, and he'd managed to convince Belle to have another drink every time she finished one. Thanks to his efforts, she had to be drunk; that was the only way to explain the giggling woman before him.

"See? Told ya it wasn't so bad," he said.

"Alright, fine, I agree," she said with a laugh.

"You know, I was kinda afraid you'd be a angry drunk from the way you are when you're not drunk," Ben commented.

"I'm sooo not drunk," Belle said with another giggle. Then a hiccup escaped her mouth and she threw her hand over her mouth in surprise. She laughed, "Okay, maybe just a little bit."

"Here you are sir, these are the last drink of the night before we close up, and do you need a room for the night?" the bartender asked as he set down their drinks.

"Yesh please!" Belle said cheerfully, throwing up her arms in excitement. The bartender then left to get them a room key.

"Well, there lil' missy, we need to finish off these drinks and leave go to the room so they can clean up," Ben said pointing to her drink.

"Okay!" she exclaimed in a cheery tone and grabbed the mug. Ben's smile turned into a look of surprise as Belle chugged the entire mug in a single breath.

"Damn!" he exclaimed, then chugged his own drink quickly.

The bartender came back and set the key down on the table, "Around front, the stairs are on the side," he said.

"Thank-" Ben's hiccup interrupted him, "-you." Ben watched as the bartender walked away and he stood up from the table, "Alright, come on, let's go to bed."

"Okies," Belle said, she stood up from the table. Her legs folded under her and she fell on her rear on the floor and immediately started laughing.

"You okay?" Ben asked, concerned.

"I fell," Belle giggled.

"I saw that ya light weight," Ben laughed, realizing that she was quite further down the drunken road than he was. He stumbled slightly, then moved over to her and grabbed her arms. He pulled her up and she fell forward against him, laughing. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as he felt her arm coming around his waist, gripping the back of his jacket to steady her.

They stumbled out of the door and up the side stairs, as Ben fumbled with the key he felt Belle's head fall on his chest.

"Myrrh," she whispered.

Ben looked down at her confused, "Huh?"

"You smell like Myrrh, it was probably one of the herbs they used when treating your injuries," she said, and he could see a smile on her face. He blushed slightly and smiled down at her. Then he opened the door and they stumbled into the room they had gotten.

Belle plopped down in a chair in front of a desk and clumsily took off her boots. Ben had already tossed his jacket aside and threw his boots next to the wall. He laid down back onto the bed and sighed. He looked over as Belle sat down on the bed next to him. A moment of silence passed then she looked over and down at him.

He raised an eyebrow at her, "What?" he asked.

"You're a jerk," she giggled then laid back next to him.

"What? Why?" he asked and sat up to look down at her.

"I told you I only wanted one drink, you made me drink a lot of drinks," she chuckled.

"You had fun!" he exclaimed and reached to her side and began tickling her. She yelped and began laughing and tried to push him away. Ben instinctively grabbed her around her waist and pulled her with him as he lay back on the bed and rested his head on the pillow.

"You're crazy," Ben said as he closed his eyes.

"Whatever," he heard her mumble.

"So we goin' to Mournin'wood tomorrow?" He asked after a few moments of silence. When no answer came from her he sat up and looked at her to find her fast a sleep. He chuckled and gently pulled the quilt from under her and laid pulled it over her. He lay down next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist again, then quickly fell asleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Sorry this took so long to get out and that it is so short. I didn't get to finish the outline for it, so half way through I just kinda winged it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

I am going to start doing one-shots for Ben and Belle, just to act as a sorta filler between chapters to hopefully appease any angry readers and because I have some writing ideas for the couple that I can't put in the story for one reason or another, like I am currently writing one for the season of fall, but I don't think it will go in the same direction as the storyline. It will be titled: "Back Off, Hot Shot!: Side Quests" Also if you have any ideas for one-shots for this couple, PM me and let me know, I'm bound to run out of ideas fairly quick for one-shots.

See ya!


	7. Arguments and Pie

_**-Ben-**_

Ben shifted in the bed, having felt something poke his shoulder. He gave a small growl of frustration and snuggled into the bed more.

"Oh Ben," a feminine voice sounded, and Ben looked up over his shoulder to see Belle standing next to the bed. Something told him she wasn't too happy, it could have been the glare or the fact that she had her hands on her hips. "You wanna tell me _why_ your arm was around me when I woke up? Or should I just go straight to beating the living hell out of you?" she asked.

Ben hesitated, trying to think of an excuse that might work. "I didn't want you to fall off the bed?" he tried. Belle growled and yanked the pillow from under his head and started hitting him on the head with it.

"What makes you think I'm going to roll off the bed? I'm not a child you know! How ignorant can you be?" she exclaimed as she beat him over the head with the pillow.

"I'm sorry! Honest!" he said as he threw his arms over his head to keep the pillow from hitting it.

Belle growled and tossed the pillow aside, "I'm going to get some provisions for the trip to Mourningwood, if you still want to tag along then meet me at the bridge in a couple of hours." Ben watched her slam the door as she left and he even looked out the window to watch her storm down the stairs.

_**-Belle-**_

Belle quickly walked up the hill and towards the academy. When she had woken up that morning she was expecting the hangover, but not Ben's arm around her waist. It had caught her off guard, and she didn't like that. She felt her face warm up as she remembered waking up that morning. She wrapped her arms around herself and sighed.

She remembered how the first thing she had seen when she had woken up was his rough face. She had almost screamed because of how close his face had been to hers, mere inches between them. No matter how much she tried to deny it to herself, his face had been cute, almost handsome when he was sleeping. Especially with his messy blond hair slightly draped over his face the way it had been.

Belle shook her head in, trying to rid herself of the thoughts. "Damn man," she mumbled. She slowed down to a casual walk and sighed in defeat. "_No matter how much I try NOT to think about it, the thought of him just forces its way back into my mind. This can't be happening,_" she thought as she crossed her arms over her chest.

The shouts of a nearby stall vendor brought her out of her thoughts, and she looked over with a sigh. "Pies here! Blueberry, Apple Butter, and Strawberry! All freshly baked!"

"Hm, Apple Butter Pie. I haven't had that in a long time," she said quietly to herself and walked over to the pie stall.

" 'Ello Miss! Would you like to buy some pie today?" the pie baker asked with a smile.

"Well, I would, but it's only myself and I was wondering if you sold by the slice?" Belle asked.

"Certainly, I get a lot of traveler's askin' about that these days with Albion being a lot safer now-a-days," The pie vender said happily, "What kind would you like miss?"

"Oh, Apple Butter Pie please. I haven't had that since I was a little girl," Belle answered. The woman cut her a slice of the pie and Belle in return hand her the small bit of money she owed. "Thank you!" she said as she took the pie away, and to the bridge to enjoy.

_**-Ben-**_

Ben sighed as he left the tavern and looked around the market to see if he could see Belle. After not being able to spot her in the crowd he sighed and made his way around town. First he visited the blacksmith to make minor repairs to his sword and rifle. Next he decided to get some breakfast and went back to the tavern to enjoy a meal.

After he had some lunch he stepped out and saw Belle walk out of the gate. Afraid, but not surprised, that she was leaving him behind he walked to the gate to watch her leave, but instead found her sitting on the short stone wall along the side of the bridge. She was eating a piece of pie, and seemed to be enjoying the quiet atmosphere on the bridge.

She seemed so calm, like nothing in the world could upset her. He watched as she took a few bites of the pie. He'd only admit to himself that he was developing a bit of a crush on the usually very temperamental woman. Her usually sharp and hazel eyes seemed to be softer now that she was alone and seemed relaxed. Although, even he would admit that the wind was making these thoughts a bit cheesy by gently playing with her hair the way they write about it in romance novels.

Then, those sentimental thoughts of his were ruined as a large gust of wind blew past her, causing the plate with the pie on it to fly out of her hands and over the side of the bridge. She quickly hopped off the ledge and watched the plate and the pie fall down into the valley below. "No! My Pie!" she shouted as she watched it disappear into the trees below.

Ben tried containing his laughter, but it was too funny of a moment. His laughter forced its way out of him, and he had to wrap his arms around himself as the laughter became loudly and hearty.

_**-Belle-**_

Belle spun around to face the person laughing, her face red with embarrassment. She became even more flustered as she recognized Ben's figure was the one bent over with laughter. "Ben? What are you doing here? I mean, how did-?" she asked, her cheeks turning an even deeper shade of red.

"I saw you walk out of the gate, thought you were leavin'," Ben managed between the laughter, "Dear Avo, that was hilarious!"

Belle sighed and looked down at the ground, "yeah, I guess it was." Even though it did seem a bit funny, she was still disappointed that she didn't get to finish it. She scuffed the ground with her boot while Ben's laughter subsided.

"Aw, come on, it's just a slice of pie," Ben said as he walked over to her, grinning.

"It was apple butter pie. My mom used to make that all the time when I was a little girl. It reminded me of her," Belle said gloomily. Her eyes looked up at Ben as he straightened up a bit and rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, then, let's go get some more. Let's get a whole pie though! For the trip! We can have it with dinner when we make camp tonight! Hell, let's just have pie for dinner!" he exclaimed excitedly.

A bit surprised by his sudden outburst, she stared at him blankly, "Wait, what?"

"You heard me," he said and grabbed her hand and began leading her back into town. She blushed at his touch and was glad he didn't see. She tried her best to shake it off. She couldn't believe how weird the day had been for her. She couldn't wait for tomorrow. Belle took back her hand as they approached the pie vender's stall.

"One whole apple butter pie please!" Ben said excitedly.

Belle gave a sheepish grin to the vendor and shrugged, trying to keep from feeling too out of place. The pie vendor smiled at her and put the pie in a box to keep the elements from getting to it. "Enjoy!" she said, smiling as she handed the pie over to Ben.

"Thank you! We will!" Ben said and accepted the pie from the vendor. Belle watched as he turned to face her. He stared at her for a moment, which simply confused Belle. "Well?" he asked.

"Well what?" Belle questioned, still slightly confused.

"Aren't we going to get some stuff for the trip to Mourningwood?" Ben asked.

"Oh, yeah. Then we'll head out," Belle remembered, and turned to go back down to the market area down the hill. They went down and did their best to get everything quickly, however that didn't stop them from arguing between what foods to take with them.

Finally after Belle won the argument, they decided it was time to head out of town. Ben frowned as he somehow also managed to get stuck with carrying their provisions, while Belle seemed to only have to carry her own belongings. "How come I have to carry all the supplies?" he asked with a growl.

"Because," Belle replied.

"Because?" he questioned.

"Because… I said so," Belle said with a smirk and she watched as Ben's eyebrow twitched from frustration.

"That doesn't make any sense, just because you don't want to carry this stuff, means _I_ have to?" he complained.

"Oh shut up, we are finally going to Mourningwood aren't we?" Belle said as she looked up to the bright blue sky.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Well here ya'll are. Another chapter. This one took me longer than I had hoped it would, but I was having trouble coming up with ideas for it. Hopefully the next one won't take as long, seeing as I know how I want that one to go. Well, see you all in the next chapter!


	8. Blood and Bones

_**-Belle-**_

Belle sat on the stack of sandbags next to the fire in the center of Mourningwood fort. The night was a bit chilly, she figured from all the cold stone surrounding them and the damp air. She stared into the flames that stretched as far as they could toward the sky.

They had reached Mourningwood Fort just a little before sunset. Ben had been his normal self since having departed Brightwall two days ago. But as soon as they had taken a step into the fort he had silently excused himself and had gone over to the graves in the corner of the fort.

Belle sighed and looked over to him. She wondered what he was thinking. Perhaps he was silently telling them his trip and adventure after having left the fort to help the Queen in her rebellion against her brother. Or perhaps he was telling them how sorry he was that they weren't able to make it out of Mourningwood.

Something then caught her eye as it flew into the open windows. She stood quickly and retrieved her rifle that had been next to her. She saw Ben turn to look at her confused, not seeing the blue wisp dive into the ground in front of him. "Ben, Look out!"

_**-Ben-**_

Ben stood in front of the graves that had been made in the run down fort over a year ago. His comrades had been buried there, his friends. He hadn't liked that they had died in that damp, muddy swamp. Their coffins hastily built out of cheap wood, destined to always be under the muck and mud.

He knew they deserved a better resting place than the fort they had died in, but at the times of their deaths, that's all he and his remaining comrades could have done for their fallen. He sighed as he read the names that had been crudely carved into grave stones. "_Well__boys,__you__probably__already__know,__but__Swiftie__is__gone.__Logan__executed__him__before__we__could__start__the__rebellion.__Wally__'__s__with__you__all__too,__ain__'__t__he?__You__all__are__probably__playing__cards,__or__maybe__some__Fortune__'__s__Tower?__Heh,__if__Jammy__'__s__as__lucky__in__the__afterlife__as__he__was__in__life__he__'__s__probably__winning,_" Ben thought with a soft chuckled.

His thoughts were brought to a halt when he heard Belle suddenly stand up and grab what sounded to be her rifle. Curious, he turned to see if something was wrong. She seemed to be watching something, and then turned her gaze to him. He noticed for a brief moment that there was a look of fear in her eyes.

"Ben! Look out!" She shouted, but before he could turn to see what was wrong something hard hit him on the side of the head. He cringed and began to fall before his mind went dark.

_**-Belle-**_

Belle aimed her rifle at the armored hollow man that had whack Ben upside the head. She fired two rounds, the final striking hits helmeted skull, causing it to fall to the ground. Its bones shattered and fell soon after its skull.

She rushed to Ben's fallen form, quickly rolling him over onto his back. "Ben!" she shouted frantically as she kneeled down next to him. She gently shook him, fearing he might have gotten hit hard enough to kill him. She placed her cheek just above his nose and mouth, and a relieved sigh escaped her as she felt his breath warm her cheek.

Her moment of relief ended quickly however as she felt a flat piece of metal smack her side and send her completely to the ground. She rolled away from the largest hollow man she had ever seen and stood up. As she stood, a sharp pain filled her side, letting her know that her ribs were now bruised from the blow.

Gripping her rifle, she glared at the skeleton as it hissed loudly at her. "You'll pay for that," she promised and aimed the rifle between the hollow man's eye sockets as it let out an eerie screech.

_**-Ben-**_

He slowly opened his eyes and saw the light from the fire flicker against the ceiling above him. Slowly he sat up, wincing as his head throbbed in protest. He rubbed the side of his head where he remembered something hitting him.

Looking around as he did so, he found that he had been dragged to the opposite corner of the fort, where some old supply boxes had been kept. He also remembered that this would be where he would sit down to write his autobiography in his free time when he had been stationed in Mourningwood with Major Swift and the rest of the Swift Brigade.

He smiled at the memory, then across the fire thinking that Belle would be there sleeping. While she was there, she wasn't lying down, or sleeping for that matter. She was watching him with an eyebrow raised.

He gaped at the blood that was running down the side of her face from a gash that ran along her hair line on the left side of her face. A small bandage had been placed across the bridge of her nose, the small evidence of blood seeping through the bleached cotton. He also noticed that her wrist was in a splint with her arm resting on her bent knee.

"Have a good nap?" She suddenly asked. Ben quickly took a quick glance around, finding bones of hollow men scattered around the fort, and some blood splattered and smeared along the far corner.

"What in the world happened after I got hit?" he asked as he looked to Belle for answers.

"Well, a hollow man tried to kill you. Took him out first, went to make sure you were alive and I got whacked on my left side. Fought them off from that point on," Belle said as she glanced down at her left arm.

"Took a pretty good beating for it too, didn't you?" He said as a small smirk appeared on his face.

"Yeah, I did. But it wasn't very pretty to be honest with you," She replied, giving him a small smile.

"Why didn't you take care of the gash on your head?" He asked, unable to ignore it.

"Ran out of bandages and ointment, I'll take care of it when we get to the village tomorrow," she said, the small smile fading and Ben felt himself become a little disappointed that it was gone.

Ben grabbed his pack and began rummaging through it, looking for a piece of cloth to at least clean the wound with. He glanced up at Belle, who was watching him with a streak of curiosity in her eyes. He snorted and shook his head as he realized he had been thinking of how cute it was. "_Even__though__there__is__blood__covering__one__side__of__her__face,_" he thought.

"What?" she asked, a bit of anger on the tip of her tongue.

"Nothing," he said, and was relieved to find a clean, red bandana in time to save him from her attitude, "Here, this will work."

He moved over next to Belle and crouched. Belle reached for the red cloth and he withdrew his hand, "You want it done right, or sloppy. There's no mirror around here to help you look at it," he said. He received a growl in response and Belle placed her arm back in her lap and stared back into the flames of their camp fire.

His eyes came across a bottle of rubbing alcohol just as he was reaching for a canteen of water. He grabbed it and poured some of the liquid onto the bandana. With the bandana now damp with alcohol, he gently pressed it to the wound. A sharp breath from Belle let him know that it was working, and he quickly worked on cleaning off the dried blood from her face. It took him a couple of moments to completely clean her face of the dried blood.

"There, you should be good now until we get to the village," he said, smiling at how good of a job he had done.

Belle sighed, "Thanks." She then turned her head and they stared at each other, surprised by the closeness of the other. Ben couldn't pull his eyes away from her hazel eyes. A small part of him screamed in his head, but his instinct took over and his hand moved to gently caress the side of her neck.

As his thumb gently rubbed her soft skin, he studied her facial features. He'd never noticed it before, but she had a very small beauty mark under her left eye. There were also a few very light freckles along the top of her cheeks that he assumed continued under the small white bandage over her nose. The freckles were so light; he could barely see them even though he was so close to her. Then he noticed her lips, they looked soft, something he found surprising since she was an adventurer much like himself. He then found the courage to hesitantly lean in closer to her, wanting to feel her soft lips against his.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Hey, I haven't done this yet, and decided that it was something that needed to be done. So thank you StripedCaramelCandies, xLokia, and Padame4000 for the reviews. And thank you to those who added my story to you're story alerts. I hope I have kept you all interested and I hope that my writing will continue to keep you all interested throughout the rest of the story.

Also, this is last call for anyone who wants to offer up a queen name for the Queen of our story. I will be deciding a name for her out of the suggestions I have received for her after I finish writing the next chapter. (which I already have started.)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	9. I ain't afraid of no ghost!

_**-Belle-**_

Belle felt her face heat up as Ben hesitantly leaned closer to her. He seemed nervous, something she also felt at that moment. His hand had sent a shiver down her spine, and now she was nervous as to what his lips would do to her. She steeled herself as Ben's eyes began to close and his lips lightly began to touch hers.

"Aye, Cap'n Finn?" A voice sounded, causing both Ben and Belle's eyes to shoot open. Ben stood up quickly as Belle jumped back, using her injured arm. She yelped and held her wrist to her chest. Belle saw Ben's face was red with embarrassment when he had looked over to her to make sure she was alright, and then looked back around the fort for the source of the voice.

"Hello?" he asked, unsure of who had called his name.

"Oi! Cap'n, up 'ere," a voice sounded with a sniffle afterward. Ben looked up to the top of the stairs and stared with a look of surprise on his face.

"Jammy? You're a ghost!" Ben said, causing Belle to jump slightly at the mention of a ghost.

"Yep, decided that killin' hollow men was a lot more fun than the afterlife," the ghost called Jammy said.

"Screw it," Belle whispered under her breath and leaned back to lay down, rolling over so that her back was to both Ben and the ghost.

_**-Ben-**_

Ben looked over to Belle, wanting to introduce her to Jammy, "Hey Belle-" He stopped when he noticed that she had lain down and rolled over. He sighed, and then looked back to Jammy. He quickly bounded up the steps to meet up with his old friend.

"Who knew you'd be the one to come back as a ghost," Ben said while grinning.

"Yeah, well, there's still Hollow men ya know," Jammy replied.

Ben chuckled, "Yeah, of course there is, when were there not?"

"true, true," Jammy responded and looked over to where Belle was. "Who's the girl? Did the cap'n find himself a nice woman to lay with like the ones 'n his biography,"

Jammy said with a sly smirk on his ghostly face.

"What? No," Ben responded, flustered, "We're just traveling companions, met up about 3 weeks ago."

"Oh, really? And I thought you were a bit faster at gettin' a girl," Jammy responded.

"Excuse me?" Ben asked, still flustered and slightly confused.

"I saw ya leanin' in for a kiss," Jammy said confidently while grinning at him. Ben didn't know what to say to that. Well, he knew of three things he could say, but didn't know which to go with. The first thing he could say, was that he had developed a bit of a crush on her so to speak, which was completely true. The second thing, which was also true, is that he could demand to know why Jammy would stop him from getting the kiss in the first place. He'd been so close to getting one when Jammy had caught them off guard and spooked them. Lastly, he could just completely deny it.

"It's a little more complicated than that Jammy," Ben said as he walked over to sit on the wall next to the mortar. Jammy's ghostly apparition followed him; walking rather than floating like in stories that Ben had heard when he was a kid. He shrugged at the thought, "_Guess__it__'__s__not__all__true.__"_

"and how's that? You talked about bein' with a bunch of women for one night stands in your biography, not the charmer you used to be?" Jammy asked.

"I'm as charming as ever! It just, well, she's not exactly the normal kinda of woman," Ben said, hoping that Belle was either asleep or couldn't hear the conversation.

"Oi? And how's that?" Jammy questioned, "Seemed pretty normal to me."

"Belle's not some, well, she can hold her own in a lot of situations. She's really tough, kinda like Queen Percy, Paige, or Kalin. And she has a good arm to boot," Ben said, rubbing his cheek from the memory of getting punched by her the first time.

"What'chya mean?" Jammy asked, confused.

"She punched me when we met. Didn't even get a hello in," Ben mumbled slightly, still embarrassed from it.

Jammy busted out laughing, "She punched you? Were you drunk?"

"What? No!" Ben exclaimed and watched as Jammy hugged his see through sides from laughter. When Jammy eventually stopped laughing, Ben explained what had happened and why he had gotten punched.

"Sounds like she is pretty tough, which explains how she 'eld off all those hollow men," Jammy commented, then continued with a laugh, "You were knocked cold before you even knew what was goin' on!" Ben glared at him, but couldn't think of anything to counter with. "Well Cap'n, the sun will be up in a few hours. You get some rest, I'll keep an eye out for hollow men and make sure they don't sneak up on you again," he finished with a chuckle.

"Thanks Jammy," Ben said half heartedly, knowing that as long as Jammy was here, he wouldn't let it go. He walked back around and down the stairs. He watched Belle for a moment, watching as her side expanded and then contract slightly from the steady pattern she had breathed as she slept.

He sighed after a moment and made his way back to the old bed roll she must have found to put him on when he had been unconscious. He fed the fire and made sure it would keep going before he settled down on the bed roll. He watched the flames as they reached upward into the air and dance until shortly he was fast asleep.

_**~Belle~**_

She munched on some crackers as she looked over the map. For the second time since meeting up with Ben she had woken up before him. The first time having been after a night of drinking, this time she figure it was because he had stayed up quite a bit later than her. She glanced across the dwindling fire over to Ben, who snored slightly in deep sleep.

"_I__'__m__ready__to__get__going__and__this__lazy__arse__is__still__sleeping_," she thought as she emitted a growl. As she finished her last cracker she folded up the map the best she could with her injured wrist and stuffed it back into her pack. She stretched her legs outward for a few moments and got up. She rounded the fire and stood next to Ben.

"Ben, get up," she said as she nudged him with her foot.

"A few more minutes," he mumbled in his sleep. Belle glared down at the man and pulled her foot back. She swung her foot forward as hard as she could and it connected with his right butt cheek, causing Ben to jump up with a yelp and scramble away.

"What the hell!" he exclaimed as he gently rubbed his injured cheek.

"I told you to get up, and you didn't," Belle explained, "so I forced you to get up."

"Was a kick to the ass really necessary?" he questioned as he glared at her.

"Probably not, but it was amusing," Belle replied with a smirk spread across her face. Ben uttered a growl but didn't say anything as he walked over to his stuff and began getting ready to leave. After a few moments, Ben was finally ready and they began walking away.

"Bye Jammy!" Ben shouted as they walked out of the gate. A few moments went passed with no response. "I guess Jammy had to go back to the afterlife then," he said, more to himself than anyone else.

"Probably gets boring hanging around the same place by yourself," Belle commented, glancing over to Ben out of the corner of her eye.

"Yeah, probably," Ben agreed. After a minute of silence Ben spoke up again, "So."

Belle looked over to him, finding a smirk displayed on his face. "So what?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"About that kiss?" he started, causing Belle's face to heat up.

"You mean the kiss that _didn__'__t_ happen? What about it?" she asked, trying to cover her slight embarrassment with a tone of annoyance.

"Well, since I was about to get one last night, _and_ because I deserve one for getting kicked this morning I was wondering if I could get one now?" Ben said, grinning wickedly. Belle had already caught on that it was both a joke and a small attempt to see if he could in fact get one. She smirked as she decided to play along.

"Well, I guess you're right," she purred as she came close to him and gently rubbed against him. She had to use a lot of will power to keep from laughing as Ben's grin immediately changed into a look of surprise, his face turning red. "I mean, It was _really,__really_ mean of me to kick you the way I had. And you were so close to getting a kiss last night too," she cooed, holding back her laughter as Ben's face turned into a dark shade of red.

She leaned up to his face with half-lidded eyes, and smirked when he closed his eyes and leaned down. She grinned wickedly to herself and quickly reached up and bit his nose. He screamed in surprise and Belle made a dash up the hill.  
>"You-! You-! You vixen!" He shouted as he chased after her.<p>

Belle laughed loudly, "At least I'm not a pervert!"

"Ugh! I told you that I am not like that!" he exclaimed. Belle smiled to herself, glad to finally be on the way to Bowerstone and highly entertained by the now angry Ben Finn, who was still chasing her and once again defending himself against her accusation of him being a pervert.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> First off, I'm really sorry for how long this took. The past couple of weeks were chaotic and I was forced to put this on the back burner so to speak for those couple of weeks.

With things a bit back to normal now, I have time to work on this though, so this story should be getting back on track.

And I also wanted to thank everyone for suggesting names for the queen. I entered them in an application on classtools . net that randomly selected the name choosen for me. Which turned out to pick Persephone (Percy for short) which was submitted by Padame4000!

The title for the chapter is from a Ghostbuster reference, because that damn song has been stuck in my head for over a week now lol.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know in a review!


	10. The Green Eyed Monster

_**~Ben~**_

Ben watched as the less fortunate people of Bowerstone Industrial all seemed to groggily wander around the ports and old factories. He could have sworn that they would have been better by now, especially with the school having opened up over a year ago. Although, the waste treatment plant problem didn't help as much as the school had.

"Did we _really_ have to go through the sewers? I would have loved to have avoided more mud and muck after the mud and muck we so _enthusiastically_ enjoyed in Mourningwood," Belle said suddenly, causing Ben to look over his shoulder to her. Her shoulders were slumped and she seemed tired, most likely also making her a bit grumpy.

"Oh, come on! It wasn't that bad. Besides, now we are in Bowerstone Industrial! It may not be the best of places, but it's better than the sewers," Ben said cheerfully.

"Ugh, It smells just as bad, if not worse, and it looks a bit gloomy if you ask me," Belle whispered as she straightened up and stretched her arms upward.

"Well, if I remember correctly, someone had mentioned that The Cock in the Crown has converted a room into a bathing room for quests. So all we have to do is get a room there and they'll make us up a nice hot bath!" Ben said enthusiastically.

"Sounds great, but you are getting your own room and your own bath," Belle said as she crossed her arms.

"Fine, I'll make sure that no one watches you bathe," Ben said as Belle walked past him.

"Ben," Belle growled in annoyance. He could tell he was getting on her nerves, but wasn't ready to back down now.

"What?" Ben asked innocently.

"Stop it," Belle said and continued walking away.

"Ugh, can't you have any fun?" Ben asked as he followed her up a set of steps. He didn't get a response to the question, not that he actually cared for one. As they walked up some over a bridge he spotted someone familiar. "Hey!" he shouted and waved a hand towards them as he jogged past Belle, glancing to see the confused look on her face.

Page looked over and instantly frowned, "Oh, it's you."

"You could be a little happier to see me ya know," Ben said as a grin spread across his face.

_**~Belle~**_

Belle watched the two for a moment, slightly confused. She shrugged and walked over to the two, "You have the misfortune of knowing this buffoon too?"

The woman looked to her and chuckled, "Yes, I do. And, you are?"

"Belle," she said and accepted the hand the woman extended towards her for a simple shake.

"Page, nice to see I'm not the only one that gets pestered by him," she said with a smirk on her face.

"Likewise," Belle said with a smile.

"Hey! How about a round or two? It's been a while since we've seen each other," Ben questioned, jabbing a thumb towards the Riveter's Rest.

"No thanks," Page said, "I'd rather not have a drink with _you_."

"Oh come on, it's not that bad having a drink with me, ask Belle!" he said cheerfully, then turned his head to see Belle with her arms crossed over her chest, an eyebrow cocked at him, "Or maybe not. Either way, it will be fine! Just a few drinks between friends."

"What do you not understand about 'no'?" Page questioned, causing Belle to laugh.

"He probably doesn't understand 'no' at all!" Belle exclaimed with a laugh, receiving a quick glare from Ben.

"That isn't true! I just think it would be nice to have a few drinks!" he retorted.

"Fine, but only if you leave me alone afterward. I'm quite busy today," Page said.

"You two have drinks, I'm going to go to the Cock in the Crown for a hot bath, a warm meal, and some sleep," Belle said as she began walking away, "See ya!"

"Oh come on!" She heard Ben shout after her, but she continued walking. Not wanting another drinking experience like the one in Brightwall.

Belle saw the tavern and was walking through the town square. She had noticed a few curious looks towards her, most likely due to her injuries. But the curious looks were not what were on her mind. She felt nervous, her stomach felt tight and she had one of those feelings that something bad might happen. She also couldn't shake the thought of Ben with Page.

It was bothering her and it shouldn't have, which just made her angry with herself. "_Page__seems__nice,__if__not__a__bit__uptight__and__maybe__even__grouchy.__I__don__'__t__see__what__could__happen.__I__don__'__t__think__she__would__do__something__to__Ben.__Maybe__with__Ben?__But__she__seemed__more__like-__Whoa!__Wait,__what__did__I__just__think!_" Belle froze as the realization hit her. This realization made her even more upset, she could resist releasing the growl that had formed in her throat.

"There's no way I'm jealous," she whispered through gritted teeth. She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, trying to figure out why she would think the way she was currently thinking.

"My, my, you seem to have gotten into some trouble recently. Would you like me to look at your wounds for you? No charge, I promise," A gentleman's voice spoke up, gentle and sincere. Belle looked over, curious as to who was talking. He had short, messy brown hair and blue eyes. He was taller than her, she figure by about five or six inches. His attire consisted of black pants, a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up just below his elbow, with a black pin strip vest on top of it.

Belle felt her face heat up, "_My__god,__this__man__is__handsome._" After her most recent thought, she felt a pang of guilt. She didn't know why she felt it, so she simply shook it off. She looked down at herself, not only did she have her injuries, but she was dirty, dirtier than she had been before. "Uh, sure. I would appreciate it, I apologize for the state I'm in, but I just got into town," she said with a small smile.

She followed the man to the tavern and sat down at a quiet table in the back as he checked over and doctored her injuries. She watched as he diligently cleaned, sanitized and applied medicine to them. After he had taken care of the gash on her head and the small cut on her nose, he checked her wrist and began rewrapping the splint.

"So, you're a doctor?" she asked as he continued to wrap her wrist.

"Yes, I am," he said with a gentle smile, "Oh! I apologize; I haven't told you who I am yet. I'm Doctor William Ferret. And before you think I'm some sort of criminal, I am nothing like my older cousin. I am the exact opposite."

"Oh, you mean Nigel Ferret? Didn't he used to control all the criminals in town?" Belle asked.

"Yes, he wanted to control all of Bowerstone, and wanted all the money he could get his hands on, even if it meant harming others. I on the other hand," he paused as he tied off the bandage and stood up, putting his foot on the chair, "have made it my mission in life to help those in need! To tend to the wounded, to cure the sick, and to doctor the weak back to health!" he exclaimed as he posed a bit.

Belle's face faltered, "Oh, I see," she said, taken aback by his strange behavior. "_Mom__ was __right,__most __handsome__ men __are __either __weird __or __crazy. __In__ this __case __perhaps __both,_" she thought to herself.

"Now miss-?" he started, not coming out of his pose.

"Belle Lockwood," she said, still dumbfounded and surprised.

"-Miss Belle, I am sure you are quite hungry, as am I. Would you allow me to treat you to dinner?" He said finally coming out of his pose and offering a hand to her. Belle stared at him, then down to his hand for a moment, then back to his face.

"Only if you stop acting weird?" she asked hesitantly.

William laughed, "I apologized, I get carried away and excited when talking about being a doctor and medicine."

"I see that," Belle said with a nervous laugh and accepted his hand.

_**~Ben~**_

"So, why are you following that poor girl around?" Page asked, making him look up from his drink.

"You mean Belle?" he questioned.

"Who else would I be talking about? You're non-existent girlfriend?" She replied, an eyebrow cocked at him.

"Ouch," he said as he cringed slightly, "Well, I don't know really. Met up with her in Mistpeak, we fended off some mercenaries' together right after we met up. We've been traveling together since."

"You forced her into traveling together didn't you? Perhaps to try to get into a bed with her?" Page said with a confident smirk.

Ben glared across the table at her, flustered. "No! Well, maybe I forced her into traveling together but I definitely didn't do it to sleep with her!" He exclaimed in a whisper to keep from disturbing the other patron's.

"Then why did you want to travel with her?" Page asked.

"Well, you see…" he started explaining how he had seen her at the queen's coronation, and how he had experienced that one dream with her in it, then immediately after had run into her.

"You had a wet dream about the poor girl!" Page laughed hysterically.

Ben glared at her, his face red from embarrassment, "Yeah, I did. But she doesn't know that and she doesn't have to."

"Wait, she doesn't even know!" Page laughed even harder, much to Ben's discomfort.

"Would you keep it down!" he said through gritted teeth. He waited a few moments, but she still kept laughing. "That's it, I'm leaving," he said and finished off his drink. He paid his tab and quickly walked out of the tavern. He sighed in relief when he had gotten a bit further down the street from the tavern. But his moment of relief ended when Page came running up from behind.

"I'm coming with. I want need to see if someone I sent a letter to has made it to town yet," she said with a smile on her face.

"No! You'll tell Belle if you see her," he said, almost like a small child.

"I won't tell her," Page said as she walked ahead of him. He growled and glared at the woman as he followed her.

They had walked out of Industrial and into the Market district, Ben still glaring at Page as she walked towards the Cock in the Crown. Suddenly she stopped and looked over to the bridge, confusion evident on her face. "Hey, isn't that Belle over there?" she asked. Ben looked over to the bridge and saw Belle and another man leaning on the side, looking into the water.

Ben's chest tightened and he leaned back against the clock tower, watching the two. "Yeah, it is," he mumbled. He felt angry, he didn't want that man near Belle, something he knew was unreasonable, but at the same time he could rid himself of the feeling.

"Is the charming Ben Finn jealous? It isn't very becoming of you," he heard Page asked, looked over to her to see the smirk on her face.

"And you actually calling me 'charming' is uncharacteristic of _you_," he sneered.

"Touché," she said.

_**~Belle~**_

Belle and William looked over the bridge into the river below. They had gone to a very nice restaurant, which had flattered Belle even more when William had paid for it. She was surprised at how well they had hit it off. They had discussed the places they had been, where they were from, and a few more trivial topics.

"Thank you for dinner," Belle said, looking down at the water.

"Don't mention it," he said, she noticed that he had stood up a bit next to her.

"What's up?" she asked, looking up at him.

"I wonder who that man was looking at," he said, and nodded towards the center of the market. Belle straightened up and looked over to see Ben leaning against the clock tower. He was facing them, but he was looking towards Page, discussing some topic or another.

Suddenly she felt jealousy spring back up, causing her chest to tighten. She leaned back over the side of the bridge and looked back into the water. She felt her cheeks warm up again, although this time she didn't know if it was from embarrassment or anger. "He was looking over at us most likely. That's Ben, we've been traveling together for a little bit now," she said, disappointment in her tone, which surprised her a bit.

"Oh, are you two together?" William suddenly asked, looking down at her.

"What? Oh, no," she laughed nervously, "We're just friends."

"But you'd like to be with him wouldn't you," William said, surprising her. She straightened up again and looked at him. He laughed, "I can tell that it's true. But from that expression I assume you're in denial or simply don't want to admit it."

Belle looked down at the cobblestone street, unsure of what to say. She could completely deny it, but she was slowly realizing it wasn't true. She let out a small chuckle, "Maybe he has won me over a bit. But only a little bit! Although I will admit, you aren't too bad yourself."

"Well sorry honey, but I'm not in to you," he said with a small shrug.

"Not surprised, I look like I've been beaten up and I'm not the most attractive person," she said.

"That is not true at all!" he said suddenly while gently gripped her shoulders, startling her a bit.

"What?" she asked.

"You are a very beautiful young lady, and very sweet too," he argued.

"Heh, I know someone who would probably disagree," she said with a smirk as the thought of Ben hearing the sweet part.

"It's not that I'm not attracted to _you_ specifically. I'm just not attracted to women," he said with a shrug and small laugh. An expression of extreme shock came over Belle's face as she took a few moments to comprehend what he had just told her.

"So, you're gay. Meaning, I had a crush on a gay guy," she said flatly, still shocked.

"Oh my! In that case, yes, you have. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I really am flattered!" he said.

"I'm so sorry. I mean, if I had known," her words fumbling out of her mouth.

William began laughing, "Oh my! This is funny!" He removed his hands from her shoulders and wrapped them around his waist, holding his sides.

Belle sighed and looked down the ground, her face red with embarrassment. She failed to notice the approaching footsteps and jumped when she heard Ben's voice.

"What's so funny?" he asked, although she noticed he was trying to hide some aggravation. What he was aggravated about she didn't know.

"Apparently my cluelessness and humiliation," she responded and looked back down again.

"Wait, you're Doctor William Ferret aren't you?" Page suddenly spoke up, causing Belle and Ben to both look over.

"Yes I am, here to make up for my older cousin's criminality and to help take care of the people of Bowerstone. Are you page, the one who requested my assistance here?" William asked.

"Yes, I am. Thanks for coming; we only have one doctor here besides the doctor for the queen and her staff in the castle. We could use your help," she said, then turned to Belle and Ben. "Well, it's been fun. I'll see you two around."

"Well, see you later Miss Belle! I hope that one day you'll tell them that one thing!" the doctor called back as he followed Page. Belle blushed, surprised to hear that.

"What's he talking about?" she heard ask. She turned her head to look at him, trying to keep her face from turning even redder.

"Nothing to worry about," she said, finding no other answer. She began walking towards the tavern, ready to escape the situation she had just been in. She heard Ben follow her behind her.

"Hey, wait a minute, I wanna know!" he exclaimed.

_**~Ben~**_

Ben lay on the floor; he was stripped down to his trousers, resting his head on the spare pillow the tavern owner had given them. They had tried to get two separate rooms, like Belle had said she wanted before he had ran into Page, but they only had one room available for the night. So Belle had told her that he was to sleep on the floor.

He sighed as he remembered the Doctor from earlier. He wanted to know who he was, and why he was with Belle. It annoyed him how aggravated it made him, but he couldn't help himself. The most logical reason they could have been together was because Belle had gone to a doctor to have her injuries treated professionally. But he couldn't resist the feeling that something else had happened. Especially when they had been at the bridge, and that he had laughed. That also bugged him; he wanted to know what he had laughed at.

Ben looked over to the door as Belle entered the room, her black hair was down and wet from her bath. He'd never seen her hair down before, besides in his dream. Down, her hair went to the middle of her back. He was broke from his thoughts when Belle spoke up. She wore white cotton sleep pants and a cotton tunic, which he found a bit strange, but then again, he'd only seen her in her normal attire.

"What?"

"Hm? Oh nothing, just thinking," he said as he lay back down on the floor. He watched as Belle walked over to the bed and started brushing out her hair. "Hey, can I ask you something?" he said as he looked up to her.

"What?" she asked flatly more interested in brushing the tangles out of her hair.

"What were you and that guy doing at the bridge?" he asked, getting to the point.

"He took me to dinner after he tended to my injuries," she replied, not bothering to look at him.

"What!" Ben said sitting up suddenly. However, Belle still didn't look at him.

"Yeah, we went to dinner. A nice little place that just opened up in the new quarter, after that we just went to the bridge and talked," she said. She looked up after she had finished getting a knot out of her hair. "Why, is something wrong with that?" she sounded a bit annoyed, which he would have doubted she was.

"It's nothing," he said as he looked to the wall in front of him. He felt Belle's eyes still on him after a few moments and turned his head to look at her again. He was a bit surprised to see a mischievous grin plastered on her face. "What?" he asked a bit of nervousness in his tone.

"Are you _jealous_?" she asked pointing her hair brush at him.

"What? No, if I wanted to I could take you out to dinner and win your heart over," he stated as he felt his face heat up, causing him to look back to the wall.

"Then why don't you?"

Her question had caught him off guard. He looked back over to her, shocked. She sat on the bed with her legs crossed, her hands resting on her knees and her grin from before gone. She had honestly asked the question, she wasn't messing with him. He didn't know if he was more shocked at the question or at the fact she wasn't trying mess with his head.

"Well?" she asked, her lips curling into a small smile as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"What about the Doctor guy?" Ben asked, trying to avoid answering the question.

"What about him? You jealous?" she asked, obviously trying to win the round of questions they had started.

"Maybe," he said slowly, trying not to seem as though he was admitting it. He was surprised thought when Belle busted out laughing. "What?" he asked quickly.

"You're jealous of a gay guy!" she shouted as she fell back on the bed, laughing.

"What?" he exclaimed, surprised at information he'd just been given.

"That's what the doc was laughing about. I had flirted with him a bit, and then he told me he wasn't attracted to me. I thought it was some other reason then he told me he wasn't interested in women at all. He was laughing because I started apologizing and I was shocked and such," Belle explained as she finished laughing.

Ben felt thoroughly embarrassed. Had he known the man was into men, he wouldn't have gotten jealous, or angry, or have even cared that Belle was around him. He growled from his embarrassment and curled up on the floor, turning his back towards Belle.

"Aw, come on Benji, it isn't that bad," Belle said. He spun around and sat up, staring at her as if she had three heads.

"What did you just call me?" he asked.

"Benji," she said with a shrug, "Why you got a problem with it?"

"Did the doctor say you had a concussion?" Ben asked, without answering the question.

"No, he said my brain is fully functional, thank you," Belle said, slightly annoyed. He noticed that her eyes widened with surprise when he got up and placed his hand on her fore head.

"Are you sure you don't have a fever or something?" he asked, receiving a glare in response.

"Fine, if you don't want me to be nice to you then I'll just stick with kicking you awake in the mornings and punching you," she growled and proved her point but looking up at his hand and biting him.

"Ow!" he yelped as he jerked his hand back and shook the pain away. "You don't have to be mean again, it's just, surprising. You're not messing with me _and_ you even gave me a nickname."

"What? You've never had a nickname?" she asked.

"Well, my mother called me Benny when I was really little, but no one else has come up with one," he said as he looked over to her, "How did you come up with 'Benji' anyway?"

"Well, your full name is Benjamin, so I dropped everything after the 'j' and added an 'I' to the end of it. It's not that complicated," she said with a shrug. Ben watched as she suddenly yawned.

"Well, I'm going to bed, night Ben," she said as she got under the blanket on the bed. Ben settled back down on the floor and covered himself in his own blanket. He smirked and looked over to the bed where Belle was.

"What, now it's not 'Benji'?" he joked. He smiled as he heard Belle chuckle.

"Night Benji," she replied.

"Night Belle," he chuckled and closed his eyes to drift off into sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> So, this ended up being about 2.5 times longer than the other chapters lol. I didn't intend for it to be this long, but I kept going and couldn't stop. I tried to find a decent place to split it but I could find one and I could get myself to do it. It didn't seem right, so I left it extremely long. Although, I'm sure none of you mind.

This is the second chapter within a week's time. I've even surprised myself somewhat.

I hope you enjoyed it!


	11. Breakfast and A Day of Fun

_**~Belle~**_

Belle sat on the stone edge of the waterway under the bridge. Her boots sat next to her as her feet soaked in the cool water. She took a small bite out of the biscuit she had bought for her breakfast and sighed.

When she had woken up that morning Ben had been gone already. She groaned inwardly as she remembered the night before. While she had been glad that she hadn't been flat out drunk, she had still been a bit tipsy, maybe even a bit loopy. Reflecting on last night made her realize that she had been a bit out of character for herself.

After taking a finishing her biscuit she dried her feet and slipped them back into her boots. After making sure they were snug, she stood up and went back up the stairs. She looked around the market square, wondering if Ben had possibly come back from wherever it had been he had gone. She shrugged when she couldn't spot the blond haired man and walked toward the old quarter.

"Well, I might as well walk around and relax while he's not around," she said quietly to herself as she almost skipped away.

_**~Ben~**_

Ben grinned as the Queen laughed at his tale; he'd left the Belle sleeping in the tavern to give him a chance to see his friend and the Queen of Albion.

"That is quite a story Ben," she said before taking another bite of her breakfast. She had invited him to breakfast so as to give them time to tell each other what's happened since the attack of the darkness. "So what else has happened since then?"

"Well, I met this young woman in Mistpeak. She and I are actually traveling companions at the moment. Although, she wasn't too thrilled with the idea when I first decided to travel around with her," Ben said as he leaned back in his chair.

"Oh really? Where is she?" Queen Percy asked.

"I left her at the Tavern, she was still asleep," Ben said with a shrug as he bit into a piece of bacon.

"Well, that wasn't very nice," The queen said with a chuckle.

"Heh, she'd have probably done the same. After all, I didn't even get a hello or introduction before she punched me in the jaw when we met.

"Always making friends, eh Ben?" the queen spoke with laughter.

"What can I say, I'm a friendly and charming person," Ben laughed.

"So, what's her name?" the Queen asked.

"Belle Lockwood," Ben said, pausing to take a sip of some juice that had been served with breakfast, "She's quite tough really, and very stubborn for the most part, has an almost twisted sense of humor that usually gets me hurt. "

"She's attractive, isn't she?" the queen asked with a small smirk appearing on her lips.

"Well, yes. But, that hasn't done me any good either. She used it against me in Mourningwood. She lured me in then bit me on the nose and ran off laughing," Ben said, rubbing the bridge of his nose from the memory. He became slightly embarrassed as the queen laughed at his misfortune.

"You should bring her to dinner tonight," the queen said, catching Ben off guard.

"Wait, what?" he asked in disbelief.

"I'd like to meet her. And I have too many small court issues to deal with today to get out and meet her. So you should bring her back to the castle for dinner so that I can meet her," the queen said, unaffected by his disbelief.

"Oh, okay," he said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, I have to go to the throne room now and take care of some matters. Take Care Ben, Dinner is at 7:30 tonight," The queen said as she rose from her spot at the table.

"Yes, alright; Take Care Queenie," Ben said as he got up from the table. He walked out of the castle and made his way back down to the market district. He went to the tavern to find that Belle had left and was now nowhere to be found.

_**~Belle~**_

Belle stretched out on the sand, enjoying the afternoon sun on her skin. She had gone to the shoreline in the Bowerstone Old Quarter to relax and forget about all her worries in the world. She hadn't even realized that she had dozed off until the loud sound of water splashing startled her awake, making her quickly sit up to see what had caused the splash.

She was surprised to see Ben, come up to the surface near the end of the dock.

"Ben? What are you doing?" She questioned, wondering how he had even found her or where he'd been.

"Going for a swim! Weren't you going to jump in eventually?" he asked and he backstroked across the water.

"What? No, I was just relaxing on the shore is all," Belle said as she walked onto the dock.

"Well, why not?" he questioned.

"Why not what?" she replied curiously.

"Go swimming, it's nice and relaxing. I'm not asking you to strip or anything. Just take off your boots and hop in!" he said cheerfully as he swam up to the dock.

"No thanks, I'll leave the swimming to you, I'll just go back over there and lay in the sun again," she said with a half-hearted laugh and walked back down the dock.

"You'll eventually get in the water, just wait!" Ben said as he pushed away from the dock.

"Uh huh, sure thing there Finny," Belle mumbled to herself. She sat back down on the sand and watched as Ben swam around in the water. After a few minutes she decided to lie back down and peer up into the big blue sky. She had been thinking of something before she had dozed off. She had been thinking of visiting the village she had grown up in. It was a small place and she would love to see how her old childhood friends where doing. She closed her eyes as she thought on when she would go see them. "_The only problem with going there is Ben, I'd rather visit Silverpines alone than have a traveling companion with me,"_ she thought, and then she heard some splashing of water as Ben stepped out of the water.

She opened her eyes and sat up to see Ben walking up to her. He was standing in front of her in nothing but the now wet trousers he had been swimming in. He was grinning wickedly at her and that scared her half to death.

"Ben?" she questioned.

"Time to swim!" he said as he reached down to grab her.

"What!" she almost screeched as she quickly scurried backward and out of his reach. He stepped forward and grabbed her arm as she tried to make a dash up the hill.

"You heard me," he said as he wrapped an arm around the back of her thighs and draped her over his shoulder.

"I don't want to swim Ben, please, just let me stay on the shore," she said as she struggled to get away from him. She felt him slip her boots off and he began walking towards the water. She struggled harder to get out of his grasps, but he seemed to have a good grip on her.

She heard the swishing of his feet moving through the water then looked down to see the shallow water and the waves as they reached the shore, in a moment of panic she screamed loudly, "I CAN'T SWIM!"

_**~Ben~**_

Ben froze as he heard Belle scream. He set her down in front of him and looked at her for a moment in disbelief. "You can't swim?" he asked, questioning what he had heard. He watched as Belle hesitantly shook her head.

"I never learned to swim," she said.

"You've never been swimming," he said in disbelief.

"Nope," she said, looking a bit embarrassed. He watched her for a moment, but she simply stared down at the crashing waves at their feet. He didn't know really what to say, he'd learned to swim from a young age, and actually enjoyed it.

"I'll teach you!" he spoke up suddenly as she began to move back toward the shore.

"What?" she asked obviously caught off guard.

"I'll teach you how to swim, it's not too difficult," he said as he swept her up bridal style and began walking out into the water.

"What? Wait, no Ben. Please, I don't care to learn to swim, it's not that big of a deal," she argued and struggled against his grasp. She stopped when they got to deeper water and actually gripped his shoulders, as if she were afraid to fall in. He waited for the water to get up to his chest to stop. She was clinging to him completely now, afraid of falling into the water.

"It's alright, you can still stand on the bottom here," he said with a chuckle and without warning let go of her legs. She let out a gasp and her arms wrapped around his shoulders. "Seesh, you really are afraid of the water aren't you?"

"When you can't swim the only thing you can do is drown," she responded, looked at the water nervously.

"Yeah? Well, it's alright, I'm here to get ya if you need me to," he said. "Now you gotta start kicking your feet - ow! I didn't say kick me!" he exclaimed as he looked down at her. She was glaring up at him, obviously not very happy.

It took him a while but eventually he was able to teach her to swim well enough that she could swim by herself. She wasn't perfect at it, but she could keep her head above water. To get good at it she would just need practice.

"So, what were you doing out here anyway?" he asked suddenly, watching her as she stopped swimming and put her feet on the sandy bottom.

"I was just relaxing, enjoying the day. And you? " she asked nonchalantly as she looked up to the blue sky.

"I came looking for you," he said leaning against one of the supporting beams of the dock.

"Oh really, and why is that?" she asked as she made her way over to him.

"Because I- whoa," he said as he caught her after tripping on something along the bottom. They laughed a bit then he stopped when her hazel eyes met his blues. They seemed to slow in the sun light, and he had to admit, she looked beautiful the way she was. Her hair stuck to the side of her face, wet from swimming and her hazel eyes gleaming up into his.

He slowly dipped his head down, his eyelids only remaining half open as he got closer to her face. He doesn't know why, and he probably never will, but she closed her eyes and leaned up to gently place a kiss against his lips. He pulled her closer to him as the kiss became deeper; their tongues fighting for dominance in the kiss.

After another moment their kiss ended and he took in a deep breath and looked down at her smiling, "You're completely unpredictable, you know that?"

"Yeah, that's a good thing in this case though isn't it?" she asked with a smirk.

"Yes, that is a really good thing in this case," he said as he pressed his lips against hers again, already addicted to her taste.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Hey, sorry this took so long. (It took way too long, ha.) I started it a while ago and then it wasn't until I got sick that I finally sat down to finish it, so my bad. So I finally gave you all that kiss you were hoping for probably back in chapter 7. If I'm feeling up to it, I will get started on the next chapter later today. But at the moment my only plans are to go to the doctor and then come back home and rest. Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks for reading and being patient.


	12. A Change of Clothes

_**~Belle~**_

Belle walked next to Ben as they made their way back to the tavern, his hand had a firm grip on hers. She looked down at their intertwined hands, "Afraid I'm going to run away?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if you did," Ben said with a chuckle.

"Why would you say that?" Belle asked with her free hand on her hip.

"Because you would have probably used the kiss to disorient me long enough to get away," Ben said playfully. Belle laughed and playfully punched his shoulder. She casually looked around the street as her and Ben continued to walk back toward the tavern. There were kids running around the streets, some chickens here and there, and street vendors were hollering over the crowds trying to get the passing people to buy there vegetables or fruits.

"Oh, that's right!" Ben suddenly exclaimed, making her look up to him in confusion.

"Huh? What's right?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"The Queen invited us to dinner!" he said cheerfully, causing Belle to freeze in her tracks.

_**~Ben~**_

"What?"

"I had breakfast with the queen this morning, decided to see how she was and catch up and all that. She found out that I was traveling with you and now she wants me and you to go to dinner at the castle at 7:30 so that we can catch up more and so that she can meet you. . . Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, perplexed as to why she was staring at him as if he'd done something stupid.

"Does it look like we are dressed to meet the queen for dinner?" she asked, motion towards her clothes, "we are soaking wet, and there's probably no way our clothes will be cleaned and dried in time to meet the queen for dinner. And the only other set of clothes I have is a set of casual clothes and a set of night clothes. So unless you can magically snap your fingers and get us some decent clothes, we're screwed pretty much." Ben looked at her attire then down at his own clothes and Belle saw realization cross his face. She watched as he looked around the street, looking for a clue or sign as to what to do next.

"Well, hot shot?" he heard her ask, "what now?" He looked down to her, but every time he looked at her face he was still in disbelief at what had happened half an hour ago. He looked back around again, then spotted a sign in the down the street. He grinned and looked down to her as he threw his arm around her shoulder.

"We go to the tailor of course!" he said cheerfully.

He watched as her as she crossed her arms over her chest, "The tailor? Okay, that makes sense, but what's with the grin?"

_**~Belle~**_

"No," she stated firmly, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

"Aw come on, I'm sure it's not that bad," Ben spoke smoothly from the other side of the changing curtain. Belle glared at her image in the mirror, she would not wear the atrocity that the tailor had called 'a dress'. Well, she'd worn a dress before, years ago, but this abomination was _not_ a dress she would even want to touch with a 10 ½ foot pole.

"Give me back my normal attire, Ben," she growled.

"Oh come now, let's just see how pretty you look in-"he stopped mid-sentence when he slid the curtain open to Belle's horror. Her face was red with anger and embarrassment as he looked at the dress the tailor had insisted she try on.

A pink ribbon sat delicately atop her head, a red ribbon tied into a bow in the front served as her choker, the dress it's self was pink, red, and white, full of silk, lace, and some other materials that caused her to want to vomit just as much as the rest of it. She continued to glare at Ben as he assessed the outfit. He eventually couldn't contain himself anymore however, and his laughter burst out of him and he had to hold his sides.

She looked over to her sword, which leaned up against the wall. She grabbed it and began walking toward Ben. "You're going to have to die now; I can't have any witnesses to this… this… whatever _this_," she paused as she motioned toward the dress, "is."

The tailor took a step back, letting a nervous laugh escape, "I'm sure I can find something more reasonable for you to wear."

Belle quickly spun on her heel, "FIND IT!"

_**~Ben~**_

Ben rubbed his now sore jaw. While the tailor had been looking for a better outfit for Belle, she'd taken the opportunity to punch him squarely in the jaw. He sighed as he leaned back in the chair and waited. He'd already gotten some simple trousers and a shirt to replace his wet clothes. Belle had a harder time with the tailor, arguing over dress verses pants. Honestly, at this point, he didn't really care; he just wanted her to pick something.

"This'll do I suppose," he heard her say as she pushed open the curtain. He sat up and looked to see whether or not Belle or Tailor had won the argument. He had to keep his jaw from dropping when their stood Belle wearing an embroidered silk top with a sleek black dress pant, which he hadn't even know to be made for women.

He barely noticed the tailor grumble about how a dress would be better as said tailor walked back behind his counter.

"What?" Belle said, obviously feeling uneasy.

"Oh, sorry," he said with a chuckle and shook his head, "It just seems you're dressed to kill." He nearly fell out of the chair laughing when she appeared very confused. "What's wrong?" he asked, his hand over his mouth trying to contain his grin.

"Why in the world would I want to wear this to kill things?" she asked, motioning toward her attire, which caused him to burst with laughter.

"It's an idiom; just means you look absolutely amazing," he explained.

"Oh," she said, looking down in embarrassment, her cheeks appearing dusted lightly pink. He held back a chuckle as he stood up from the chair. He threw an arm around her shoulder and led her to the counter.

"So, how much for me and the girl here," Ben asked.

"I'd say about 250 for yours and 340 for the girl's," Ben stared, in disbelief. He was about to try bartering with the man when suddenly Belle moved away from him and over to her back filled with wet clothes. She dug into the outer pockets then returned to the counter with a few gemstones.

"We don't have that much gold on us, but these should cover the costs," she said simply as she placed them on the counter.

"Yes! Yes! This will do," the tailor said after a moment of staring in awe at the gemstones.

"Belle, where did you get those," Ben asked, confused and slightly worried.

"I find them around Albion; I'll probably find some more eventually. I don't even have a need for them so might as well us them to pay for things," she explained with a shrug.

"Oh, good," he said with a sigh of relief, "I thought you might have stolen them."

"Excuse me!" Belle exclaimed suddenly and he looked at her. She gazed at him with a fierce glare, "What the hell would make you think I'm a thief?"

"Well, gotta go! Thanks!" Ben hollered back at the tailor as he grabbed his things and dashed out the door.

"You get back here Benjamin Finn!" he heard Belle shout, having followed him out of the shop.

He couldn't help but grin, "_This should definitely make up for Mourningwood. And I can't say I don't mind getting chased after by a lovely woman every now and then._"

"Benjamin Finn! I'm going to strangle you for thinking me a thief!" Her voiced sounded loudly from behind.

"_Even if she has a temper…_"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Hey! I apologize for how long this took. I didn't not realize how difficult it would be coming up with something for Belle to wear. She just doesn't seem the 'dress' type. So I had to think up of something other than a dress that would work. Anyway, Next up they finally have dinner with the queen. Thank you so much for being patient as well.

Thanks for reading!


	13. Time to go Home

_**~Belle~ **_

Belle sat at the table quietly, listening to Ben and the Queen catch up. She looked from Queen Persephone to Ben as it became his turn to speak. For the most part, she kept quiet while the two talked, feeling a bit uneasy about being in the presence of the Queen of Albion.

She looked down to the plate in front of her; a salad had been place before her, as had been for Ben and the Queen. She picked up the smaller fork set out with the rest of the silverware and took a bite of the leafy appetizer.

"Ah, I see I don't have to tell you which one is the salad fork, unlike Ben," the queen spoke to her.

"Oh, well, I tried to remember what my ma taught me," she said, slightly caught off guard.

"You're only doing that because you're in the presence of Queenie over here," Ben said as he leaned back and jerked a thumb in the Queen's direction.

"At least I know when manners are required," she replied smoothly.

Ben scoffed and looked at her, causing her to smirk as she took another bite. The Queen laughed and smiled over to Belle, "I see you've gotten used to Ben's attitude."

"Ben acts like such a hot-shot, but he's not," Belle said, laughing as Ben huffed.

"Glad to see you two are getting along," the Queen laughed.

"Yeah, I suppose we can get along just fine," Ben said looking over to the queen with a smirk as he ruffled Belle's hair. Belle rolled her eyes and took another bite of her salad.

As Ben began to speak again, the doors to the dining room swung open, causing the three to turn to look at the door.

"Ah, so the Queen has dinner guests. My apologies for interrupting," Reaver said as he tapped his cane on the ground.

"I suppose this interruption is not for nothing Reaver," the queen asked as she set her fork down.

"Ah, yes, I was wondering if you'd like to come to a party of mine I'm holding in Millfields," Reaver asked, and then he saw Belle out of the corner of his eye. "Ah, what a pretty little thing you have here," he said as he leaned forward and lifted her chin with his finger.

Belle glared at him and slapped his hand away, "And you are?"

"Ah, surely you've heard of me. Reaver of Reaver Industries," he announced with a charming smirk.

"Ah, um, okay. But that doesn't mean you have to touch me," Belle said, a bit unnerved by the man.

"I will have to decline your invitation Reaver, I have important business I have to attend to," the Queen replied.

"Aw, come now Percy, surely you have time for a bit of fun," Reaver insisted.

"It's Queen Persephone," Belle heard Ben growl, she looked over and found the fiercest glare she'd ever seen from him. It made her a bit nervous and at the same time glad it wasn't directed at her. If he had given her that glare at all during their travels together she surely wouldn't have been as mean to him. Then again, she probably would have bolted at the first chance she got.

_**~Ben~**_

Ben absolutely hated the man that had intruded on their dinner. Reaver was cocky, stubborn, and acted as if he were a god that deserved anything and everything he wanted. He had caused Page and the Queen quite a bit of trouble during the revolution. The fact that as soon as the Queen took the throne he became all 'buddy buddy' aggravated him even more.

"Ah, yes, the young man from the revolution. Still causing trouble around Bowerstone?" Reaver quipped with a quirked eyebrow and a smirk, annoying him even more.

He growled, but before he was able to speak Belle spoke for him, "Well, you would know wouldn't you? I've heard of the kind of 'trouble' your parties tend to cause. Even growing up stuck in Silverpines the trouble your parties caused reached us."

"A pretty little thing like you from that group run down hovels called a village?" Reaver questioned, "You should come to my party, see what sort of treasures I have at my abode. Perhaps I could even add you to my treasures for a night?" Ben watched Belle lean away from Reaver as he closed in to her face with his.

"That's enough Reaver. Leave her be. If there's nothing of importance to discuss I'd appreciate it if you took your leave," the Queen thankfully requested.

"Ah, yes, my apologies; Enjoy your dinner," he said as he spun on his heel and headed for the door, "Tatty bye."

Ben's chest relaxed from the tight ball that had seemed to swell when Reaver had entered. "Thank Avo," he commented.

"Well then, let us continue with dinner," the Queen said, a smile replacing her frown.

_**~Belle~**_

The rest of dinner had been fairly uneventful, however still filled with chatter and laughter. As the dessert had been served, the Queen had insisted that they stay the night in the castle as guest, something that had caught her off guard. Before she could decline the offer Ben had accepted the offer.

So now she was relaxing in the cushioned bay window of the guest room she had been given, simply looking up at the stars in the sky. The room was something she was not accustomed to. The large cushy bed much more comfortable than the small beds she was used to in Inns and Taverns. The large soft rugs covering most of the tiled floor was what really seemed strange to her since she was used to hardwood floors and dirty rugs she'd usually just kick aside anyway.

"_…a party of mind in Millfields."_ Reaver's voice repeated in her head.

She hadn't recognized him at first, having never actually seen him in person. But she knew enough about him to know that his guests at parties were usually either criminals or balverines just from the 'after-parties' that would usually involve Silverpines being attacked.

No one outside the small village of Silverpines knew about the many times that Reaver's party guests would end up trying to cause mayhem in Silverpines afterwards. They were all too scared to say anything to the army or guards that occasionally patrolled through because Reaver had threatened to kill everyone in the village if they did so.

This message of course had been sent by the body of the first person who had tried to get to the authorities about the situation. She shuddered as she remembered running outside after breakfast to play with her friends and suddenly seeing her friend's father tied up to the tree with the letter pinned to his bloody shirt.

"_Oh no, what if something happens again? What if it's like the time the mercenaries came to Silverpines, got drunk, and tried to rape a few of the women? Or if the Balverines try to attack again? Last time I was there they had almost gotten past the torches._" She thought as she bit her thumb. She meditated on those thoughts for a few moments, then quickly got up dressed again in her normal attire, now clean and dry thanks to the servants around the castle.

Sure she had run like she was being chased by balverines when she finally got to leave the damned place. During her childhood she wasn't allowed to leave the village, and couldn't wait to see the world and what it had to offer her when she was older. But the place still had sentimental value to her. Her friends were still there who she regrettably hadn't seen a long while, friends she had grown up with. She was close to every single person there, she couldn't just shrug off the bad feeling that something was going to happen to them.

Belle quietly stepped through the doorway and began stepping lightly down the hall after quietly shutting the door behind her. After some confusion and a few wrong turns she found herself in the back gardens. She was about to step past the library when she heard a familiar voice and instead hid behind the corner.

"Oi! Don't think I forgot how to play just because I left for some adventure!" Ben's voice sounded as a few others sigh. "Now, how about another hand before bed, eh gentlemen?"

"_Dammit, Ben, what do I do about him? Ugh, and I suppose this is the part where I regret kissing him because now it's going to be harder for me to leave him behind while I go to Silverpines? . . . . . Yup, apparently so,_" She realized as she sighed and looked around the corner.

Ben and three other men, soldiers or guards who were presumably currently on break, sat at a table looking down intently at the cards that had been dealt before them. She quietly moved to the other side of the large door way and towards the kitchen, sighing when she reached the other side unseen.

Without any further obstacles or confusion, she managed to find the entrance hall of the castle. She looked at the door handle, reached for it, then hesitated.

"Something wrong ma'am?" the guard standing next to the door asked her.

"Um, no," she said quickly, then after a moment spoke up again, "Don't tell Ben I left until morning. And let Ben known that I am sorry when he finds out."

"Will do. Safe travels ma'am," the guard said with a salute.

"Thanks," she said as she finally found the strength to pull that large door open. As she walked through Bowerstone, the castle behind her she frowned at the ground.

"_Well good bye Benjamin Finn, I have no idea if we'll see each other again or not, but thanks for having my back during the first fight with the mercenaries we had together, for saving me from getting raped and possible killed by mercenaries, for the laughs and fun, and especially for that kiss._"

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Sorry for the super long delay on this. I started a second job and since then I either haven't had time to or when I did I'd sit down, open word and just stare at a blank document even though I would have an idea of what I would want to right. Worst case of writer's block I've ever had.

Hopefully I'll be able to work on the next chapter over the next couple weeks and get it done without too many problems.

Thanks for reading!


	14. An Empty Room and Unanswered Questions

**~Ben~**

The sun beamed in through the windows and woke Ben up to the sound of birds outside his guest room. He stretched his arms upward as he sat up and yawned. He tossed the blankets aside and swung his feet of the edge of the bed.

As he stood up he remembered the day before and after thinking about it remembered that he had in fact kissed Belle. He thought about it for a moment and realized they hadn't discussed what it had meant. Whether it meant that they were an item now or it had just been a spontaneous kiss that happened in the heat of the moment.

He quickly dressed and set out to meet Belle at her door as to speak with her before breakfast. When he arrived however he found that the doors were already open and a maid cleaned the room inside. "Oh, excuse me? Did Belle already go to breakfast?" he asked as he entered the room and approached the woman.

"Oh, Mr. Finn. I don't think so, I'm pretty sure she left in the middle of the night," the woman answered and Ben stared at her for a moment as if she had grown two heads.

"Left? What do you mean?" He questioned.

"Well, the room was empty when I knocked the door earlier this morning and rumor has it that someone saw her leave in the middle of the night. I didn't think it was true until I came to check on her," The maid explained.

"Who saw her?!" Ben asked quickly, becoming upset at the thought of being left behind. "_Why would she do this? I mean, it wasn't because of what happened yesterday is it?_"

"A servant who had been up late finishing chores. Although I would think the night guard would know more about that," She answered.

"Thank you miss," Ben said quickly and spun on his heels to find some of the guards from the night shift.

"Gentlemen," Ben greeted as he approached the group of guards he had been playing cards with the night before. "Have you seen Belle Lockwood? The young woman who had joined the Queen and I for dinner last night?" He questioned as he looked between the three of them.

"No sir, we haven't. But I'm pretty sure Leroy was looking for you sir! I think he had something to tell you," The tallest of the three answered.

"Thank you James. Do you know where I could find him?" Ben replied quickly.

"Yes'sir, he went ta the kitchen for some food before gettin' some shut eye," The shortest man answered.

"Thank you. It was fun playing with you last night," Ben said quickly before hurrying in the direction of the kitchen.

"Leroy?" Ben questioned as he approached the only man in uniform sitting at a table.

"Aye, Ben Finn isn't it? I was lookin' for you earlier. About that girl you were with yesterday," He responded quickly as he stood from his chair.

"Yes! Do you know where she is?" Ben inquired quickly.

"Um, no sir. But she wanted me to tell you she was sorry for leaving," He answered.

"So then she really did leave," Ben muttered dejectedly as he crossed his arms over his chest and looked away from the man as he tried to think of any other reason why than the kiss from the day before. A part of him desperately wanted there to be some other reason, but he was drawing blanks for the most part.

"You know sir, I'm sure Thomas from the night watch at the front gate would have seen her leave. He might be able to tell you what direction she went in if she left through the front of the city," the guard before him suggested.

Ben thought it over for a moment and eventually decided that he truly did need to know why she left and what the kiss had meant. "That's an excellent idea. You said the guard's name was Thomas?" Ben questioned as he straightened up some.

"Yes Sir. Thomas bunks in the guard tower next to the front gate," Leroy answered.

"Thank you, I'd best be going then," Ben replied quickly as he turned and started toward his room again for his belongings.

"So, from what I've heard Belle left in the middle of the night," A calm voice sounded from the door way as Ben packed his belongings. He turned and smiled softly at the Queen as she watched him with steady eyes.

"She did," Ben confirmed as his smile turned into a frown.

"Well then, I had one of the cooks prepare some food for you to take with you. You seem rather fond of her so I assume you'll be leaving to go after her," Queen Persephone assumed with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I suppose so. I also have something I need to ask her about, a rather important question," Ben elaborated before turning to the Queen as he picked his bags off the end of the bed, "Thank you for your hospitality my Queen."

"Oh stop that Ben," Persephone laughed, "We are comrades and friends. There is no need for such titles between us in private." She took the pack of food from the cook who had been standing next to her and handed it to Ben. "Now go find your 'friend'," she chuckled with a wink.

Ben's face heated up slightly at the Queen's suggestion and he chuckled as he took the food. "Thank you Percy. I hope it won't be too long before I get the chance to sit and talk with you again," he said with a nod and stepped between the queen and cook before hurrying down the hall.

"Oh Ben!" Persephone shouted after him, making him stop in his tracks and turn toward her.

"Yes?" he called back down the hall toward her.

"I forgot to mention I had a horse saddled for you in front! He's a good steed so please take care of him!" She hollered down the hallway.

"Thank you! I'm in your debt!" Ben exclaimed as he quickly began running back down the hall, intent on finding Belle and the answers to his questions.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I just want to apologize again for leaving this story unfinished for so long. However I intend to see this story eventually finished and I can't promise when the next chapter will be up. But it will definitely not be another two years, one year, or even several months. Thank you for returning to this story with me and enjoying it. ~Marly Mischief


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